Not What They Seem
by SkyKing3
Summary: England is known for dealing with black magic, and it sometimes gets a little out of hand. However, when he tries to contact other worlds, things get really screwed up. At least, that's what Germany says when he opens their world to murderous doppelgangers. 2p characters are fun to write with, so yeah.
1. Chapter 1

**So, let me just say, the 12 hour wait period was BS**

 **Anyway, I started watching Hetalia about half a year ago and decided to do a fanfic with the 2p characters. This is not my first story, but on this website, it is. Anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

 _England POV_

England was just about ready. He had everything he needed, and all he had to do was to chant the words in his book and he would be able to make his request. This would be his first time contacting a separate universe. England didn't know what to exactly expect, but if the book was right, he would be talking to another version of himself tomorrow.

The way the spell was supposed to work was that a different version of himself was supposed to be performing the same spell in his universe. When done correctly, a one-way portal would open, and it was supposedly either going to lead England to a new universe or lead counterparts to his universe. Either way, he was going to talk to another England.

Again, he had no idea what to expect. He was keeping an open mind, or whatever was equivalent to him. He opened his book and held it in only one hand, using the other to hold his wand. Sure that everything was set up perfectly, began chanting.

 **"O portal de domino, portarium universum, et cæremonias istas eritis mihi in solucionis pro mutuo occurrant cum ad universum parallel mea. Ostende mihi faciem meam ab aliis!"**

As he chanted, a wind began circling the room, papers flew as if where he was standing was the center of a tornado. He repeated this phrase 8 times for the 8 large red candles he had surrounding a single white candle. The 8 red candles were supposed to represent the closest universes to his own, and the white candle represented the one he was contacting. The white candle was also happened to be the one that was not lit, for it was supposed to light up on its own near the spells conclusion.

England finished the chanting and pointed his wand at the white candle while thinking secretly 'This better work'.

To his relief, the white candle produced a great blue flame, about 3 times bigger than it should be on a standard candle. He interpreted it as a good sign.

A white line expelled from the center candle and into England's wand. The sudden energy forced him to take a step back in order to brace himself. The star on top of his wand was now glowing a brilliant white. He saw multiple other white lines shoot past him, but his focus was on the candle.

Then, as quickly as it commenced, the blue flame went out, bringing the other flames on the red candles with it. The wind in the room ceased, and papers slowly floated the ground. Smoke began to rise from the candles.

England stood there, panting from excitement. 'Did it really work? I wonder...'

He figured he would pick up the papers tomorrow and head off to bed, though it was only 6 in the evening. Large spells like that used a lot of his energy. Hopefully, he would find his doppelganger here the next day. He was planning to ask about the parallel universe, as well as tell him about his own. He may even be able to use the knowledge against other nations if he is fortunate.

He set the book on a desk and put his wand in his pocket. He decided to sit and open up the book to the page of the spell again, just to make sure he wasn't supposed to do anything else.

The page had the instructions for setting up the spell and the words he was to chant, as well as the multiple warnings with the spell, but England was a master at this sort of thing(According to himself). He figured if anything unfortunate happened he could simply just send back his other self and seal the portal.

England was just about to leave when he heard a loud beeping noise. He panicked and took out his wand to any intruder who dares face him, only to realize that he was merely the smoke detector.

"Ah, you bloody useless waste of plastic and metal," England groaned. "I oughta hit you with a baton till ya shut up,"

So he did just that.

 **Short chapter, but the only short one, nonetheless**

 **Also, I don't feel like proofreading so deal with it, the next one should be better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, So, yeah.**

 **The next part I'm planning on releasing tomorrow if not the next day. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Germany's POV_

The phone rang twice before Germany picked it up. It was 9:30 in the morning, and the only person who ever called him that early was Italy. Germany suspected that he was calling about the World Conference they had in a few hours.

Despite it being called a "World Conference", it wasn't exactly a real one. Not all of the usual countries would be there. It was arranged by America, most likely wanting to share another one of his "awesome" ideas. Chances were he just wanted to argue with Britan or France about something. However, since the last World Conference was held in America, he decided that it should be held in a different country that time, and that country just so happened to be Germany.

To Germany's surprise, it was actually Romano. Seeing as Romano never called him, and how he wasn't going to the conference, he had no idea what he could be calling about.

"Germany, hi, uh..." Romano didn't seem very focused. He was distracted by something.

"Yes?" Germany asked.

"It's um, is Italy suppose to be at the World Conference today?"

"Yes," Germany replied. Shouldn't Romano know that? He and Italy were brothers.

" _Che cazzo"_ Romano muttered under his breath. Germany didn't know Italian, but he suspected the answer he gave Romano is not the answer he wanted.

"You seem surprised, Romano. Is something wrong?"

"Well, I just saw Italy a few minutes ago, but he didn't look like he was in any hurry to get to the meeting. He almost looked agitated by something"

"Where was he going?" Germany assumed Italy just got distracted by some girl. Italy had a tendency to be late, and he wasn't afraid to admit what he got distracted by. It was usually a girl

"I don't know, but I think he might have been talking to someone when he left. I thought it was you, but he was speaking as if he just met the person"

So it was just a girl.

"No need to worry, Romano" Germany reassured him. He told him that it was most likely a woman he got distracted by. Romano didn't seem convinced, but he sighed and agreed anyway.

"Well, I guess you're right. I'll let you go now,"

"Okay"

"I'll be sure to call you if anything else happens,"

"Okay"

"I'm sure you are correct,"

"Okay"

There was a pause, then a sound that suggested Romano just realized what he was doing

"Whatever, potato bastard. _Ciao_ "

He hung up after that. Germany put down the phone, knowing there was no hope in Italy being on time today. At least he would know where he was.

Since Germany had time to spare, he figured he would grab a beer and read for a bit. The conference was still a few hours away. Germany got up and began to walk towards the kitchen.

It wasn't long before he could hear someone in the main room. Prussia wasn't home, and no one else came by to his house often. Except for Italy, of course. 'Perhaps he won't be late'.

As Germany got closer, he realized it couldn't be Italy. The footsteps were too heavy. Plus, now that he thought about it, Italy would have made his presence very known. He would've barged into the house yelling "DOITSI! I AM HERE!". Whoever this person was, they were not welcome.

Germany pulled out his gun, a Luger P-08. He always carried it with him, as Japan always carries his katana (And Italy with his white flag). Silently, he moved towards the entryway of the main room. Finding no one, he began moving towards his original location. As he put his back up against the wall next to the door that leads to the kitchen, the footsteps became more prominent. Definitely a larger man.

Germany hasn't had someone try to break into his house since England tried to spy on his country. Though unsuccessful, it had put Germany on high alert for a while. That was a while ago, and now it was happening again, though he was sure it wasn't England. Not on the day of a World Conference.

Germany looked through the doorway, gun in hand. There was a figure, as expected. Strong physique, military clothes, and from the looks of it, he was armed with a knife. Germany saw that the man didn't have the tan jacket on fully, just wearing it over his shoulders. He had a hat that covered a good bit of his blonde hair. From where Germany was standing, he could make out a few scars on the man's right arm.

Germany didn't hesitate. He took a few steps, aimed his gun at the man's head and clicked off the safety, making his presence known. The figure jumped at the sound. He dropped his knife, which, from the looks of it, seemed to be a military knife. Not only that but judging from the design, you couldn;t just buy that at your average hunting store. Not even most members of armies were given knifes like that.

Putting as much authority in his voice as he could, which wasn't hard, he said. "Turn around slowly. I am not one to be kind with intruders."

The man put his hands in the air at the same level of his head in a calm manner. He listened to Germany's orders.

Germany's hand almost faltered. He had to concentrate to keep his hand from shaking. His expression turned from serious to shock. He had to be hallucinating.

The figure turned to reveal that his face was Germany's. EXACTLY Germany's. Added the scar on his cheek and purple eyes. They both wore the same appalled expressions. Germany now noticed that his military jacket was of the same design as one of his own. He had the same iron cross that, up until that point, only he and Prussia owned. He wore a white tank top under his jacket, proving had the exact same build as Germany.

" _Die Hölle_?" Both Germany and the man said at the same time. The voice was the exact same, though it sounded quieter. The imitation was enough to bring Germany out of his trance.

"Who are you?" Germany said it more like a command than a question.

The man blinked once, then put on a slightly calmer expression. Despite that, he still stuttered with his reply. "M-my name is Germany."

Germany was more upset than shocked that they had the same names. He really had no reason to be more startled by this man. "No, you are not. I am Germany"

The man was clearly not happy with Germany's response. His expression soon grew dark, and his hands balled into fists. Since he did that, the punch he aimed at his gut was completely expected and blockable. Germany stepped to his left and charged with a right handed uppercut. The imposter clearly wasn't prepared and fell backward, gripping his jaw. His head banged on the countertop, and he sank down unconscious.

"See," Germany said to no one in particular. "The real Germany would've been prepared for that,"

Germany didn't really know what to do after he tied the imposter's hands behind a chair. He figured he could call America and call of the Conference. However, the thought occurred to him that there could be others like the imposter. He decided he would still call America, but for obviously different reasons.

He took out his phone and dialed America. It was only 1 and a half rings before he picked up. He almost regretted calling him first

"DUDE, GERMANY. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THE MORNING I JUST HAD," America's yelling caused Germany to move the phone away from his ear in fear of becoming deaf. "GO AHEAD. GUESS!"

"Someone who looked like you just appeared in your home and attacked you?"

"Dude, what" America almost seemed disappointed. "How did you know?"

"Something similar happened to me. Where is your..." Germany tried to look for the right word to use, and settled with "counterpart now?"

"Oh, he's right here! I'd let you say hi, but I had to knock him unconscious with my coke can in order to keep myself from dying."

"You, uh..." Germany was uncertain if one could render a person unconscious with a tin can, but he was somehow more curious as to why he was drinking soda for breakfast(Though he was planning to have a beer a few minutes ago). He decided to ignore it. "Nevermind that. I need you to call everyone and tell them the subject of our conference today has changed. Assuming we are not the only people who are having this issue, we need to discuss what we are to do. Tell them to be there ASAP"

"Aw, man," America moaned. "I wanted to talk about my idea of having each country have a huge wall covered in machine guns. Can't we deal with this some other time?"

"AMERICA!"

"Fine, jeez. But, hey. Who's coming to the meeting again?"

Germany sighed, but began listing of the names anyway. "England, Canada-"

"Who?"

" _Mein Gott,_ you know who it is. Japan, France, Ital..."

"Dude, you okay?"

Germany paused. Italy.

"Germany, you there?"

"Russia, China" Germany hung up and began to dial Italy. No one picked up. He tried again. Still no response. He tried once more, yielding the same results. He called Romano, thinking he would have better luck.

"Romano here"

"Find your brother, now."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"There is a very high chance he could be in trouble."

"What's going on?" Romano seemed angry. "I never get told what is going on!"

"Romano, just find him! And make sure it is actually him! Bring him to the conference location. You'll get an explanation when you arrive." With that, Romano hung up.

Germany walked over to his counterpart, who was just beginning to open his eyes. Germany grabbed him by his tank and pulled him so that his face was close to Germany's. The sudden motion made him fully alert

To get his point across, and to see if he really was his counterpart, he switched to German " _Wer_ ist _Norditalien für Sie_!?"

Germany's counterpart didn't hesitate with his answer " _Das gleiche Land, das mir diese Narben gegeben hat_ t"

Enraged, Germany punched his counterpart across the face. Enough to hurt, but not enough to knock him out.

Germany began to walk out the door, planning to look for Italy. Then he realized that Romano had just about as much luck with finding Italy as he did, if not more for knowing the geography better. Besides, Romano got very defensive when it came to his brother. He should be able to at least grab Italy's hand and run out to the conference location.

Trying his best to keep his composure, he grabbed his counterpart and began to drag him. It was only a 10-minute walk to the building they were meeting in. Hopefully, everyone else was in control of their counterparts


	3. Chapter 3

**So, for some reason in the last chapter, I used 'Ciao' instead of 'addio'. Cause, you know, I suck. Sorry. What you get for using Google Translate, I guess.**

 **Anyway, thank you to anyone who reviewed this story. I would say I honestly didn't think that it was good, but no one would believe me. So, I'm just going to accept all feedback, negative and positive, and I will respond to anyone who has an account. Turns out you can be a guest and still post reviews. Still new to, so you all probably knew that.**

 **This chapter is a long one, and the next one may be even longer. I kinda overdid it, I think. You can be the judge of that. I'll reiterate, any feedback is appreciated.**

 **I reread this chapter at least 3 times, but I'm sure I still screwed up somewhere. Despite what the ads say, Grammarly does not catch all grammar errors. If you see one, tell me and I'll edit it ASAP**

 **One more thing. To the two people who had reviewed so far, thank you! I can't respond to one of you, so I'm doing it here. If you don't want me to, just say so.**

 **Anyway, Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Italy's POV_

Italy woke up as early as he could, which wasn't that impressive of a time.

Italy remembered the phone call he had gotten about the next World Conference, and he wanted to make Germany proud by being on time. The Conference was at 12:00 that day, and Italy wanted to say hi to his brother before he left. Romano wasn't coming to this meeting, unfortunately. A lot of the other countries who usually came weren't going to be there. Germany had told him that this was not an official Conference, therefore they were going to have a regularly scheduled meeting next month.

Romano was already up and about by the time Italy got to him. He was eating a tomato and was playing a game on his phone. Italy sat next to him and hugged him.

" _Buongiorno_ , _Fratello!_ " Italy said over Romano's sigh. "How is your day?"

"It's going fine, Veneziano," Romano was now furiously tapping his phone. Whatever game he was playing, it wasn't treating him well. That or he really wanted to read what was in the news. "How is yours?"

"Oh, it's going wonderfully!" Italy said enthusiastically. "Ve, it is such a sunny day. I am so happy!"

Romano took only a glance at his brother before getting back to whatever was on his phone. Probably a game.

"Romano?"

"Yes, Veneziano?"

"Did you know that you are my favorite brother?"

Romano sighed. He knew how this would go. Lately, Romano has been looking depressed. Italy didn't like unhappy people, so he did his best to cheer him up. His method involved pestering some one who was busy until they showed a positive attitude and respond to whatever Italy was saying. In Romano's case, Italy would always say "You are always so nice to me, Romano," or "Hey Romano, you always know what to do", or the more recent one, "Did you know that you are my favorite brother?" That wasn't saying much, seeing as they only had each other, but it was still touching.

"Yes, Veneziano. You are my favorite as well."

Satisfied, Italy gave Romano another hug. Romano tried to suppress a smile, but something resembling a smile leaked through. Italy gave him a cheerful grin.

After that, Italy decided he should get going. He once again hugged Romano, told him _addio_ , and left.

It would take Italy a while to walk there, but he should still be able to make it. He may even be early. Germany was going to be so proud!

This was an "unofficial meeting" as Germany put it, meaning that attendance was a choice. Unlike the bi-yearly meeting, these were called by a nation who wished to share an idea. Since at least two countries must be present, and there was always at least four, they could basically be called whenever. This particular time, America had called the meeting, wishing to share an idea. Maybe it had something to do with pasta! The thought was sure to keep Italy in a good mood for the rest of the day.

See, the unofficial meetings were becoming noticeably more frequent lately because of a growing tension between America, England, and France. When and how it started is unknown, but whatever did start it has left the three nations debating on ideas. Of course, by debating, they really mean battling. Every meeting one of the countries held usually resulted in a fight. Italy knew this because he attended most of them, though he really didn't say much. Germany knew even more since he attended every one of them. He must've seen himself as the responsible figure. Without him, the meeting would probably just end in a declaration of war between the countries.

Russia attended sometimes too, though less often. He says he does it just for the entertainment of America and England arguing. Like Italy, Russia usually does not share his input with the others. During the real World Conferences, he'll talk his fair share, so he wasn't scared to talk or anything. Italy wasn't normally interested by meetings of any sort, so he would just listen.

This meeting was different, however. America had personally gone up to the nation's doors and told them this next idea was going to be epic. His intention was to hype up everyone so that they would come to the meeting and listen to what he had to say, but all he really accomplished was to bore the countries. Despite this, more nations were going to attend than usual. The reason was unclear, but Germany had said that it may be that they just wanted to be polite.

Japan was going to be there, as well as China and Canada. China has only been to one of the meetings, and Canada only twice, but Japan has been there enough times to know the trend that was most likely going to appear.

Still not as many nations as a real World Conference, but Italy was glad everyone was getting back together. Maybe they could actually agree on something for once. Granted, the chances of that happening were slim, but they were still there.

Italy was so caught up in thought, he almost didn't notice the pair of eyes that were watching him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Italy saw a figure in the midst of the crowd, he wasn't walking, like everyone else was. He stuck out like a sore thumb. Italy moved his head in the direction the person. The person quickly put their head down and practically disappeared into the body of people.

Italy was getting a little nervous. He didn't know who this person was, and what if they were someone dangerous? Italy turned his head back to the original direction he was heading. He was about to just assume it was but a figment of his imagination when he once again saw the person just at the end of his peripheral vision. He turned his head once more, and this time the figure stayed just long enough to catch a pair of practically glowing pink eyes watching him. Immediately after Italy saw them, the figure ducked and vanished.

Italy's mind wasn's playing tricks on him. There was indeed someone watching him. Fear began to swell up inside him, but it was overpowered by his curiosity. Italy hesitantly made his way to where he saw the figure standing. Of course, there was no one there. Italy stood there for a minute, thinking about what he should do next.

Of course, there was no one there. Italy stood there for a minute, thinking about what he should do next.

Just as Italy was about to decide to book it to the Conference location and ask Germany for help, he felt a hard tap on his shoulder. He jumped and quickly turned around. Asides from a few people who didn't seem to notice anything, there was an alley way that filled the void between a coffee shop and a restaurant. The alley way was empty, all except for a pair of pink eyes.

Panic began to set in as Italy took a step back. He wanted to run. How could this person tap on his shoulder and then move meters away in a split second?

In one graceful move, the figure moved his hand so that it was pointing at Italy, and made the motion one would give a dog to come forward.

Italy definitely fancied the idea of running, but he found that he wasn't in control his feet. Something about the smooth flow of movement he seemed to have told Italy to listen.

The second Italy started advancing, the person stepped backward, retreating into the darkness of the alley. Italy paused, but he regained what little courage he had and began moving once more.

The alley was dark and secluded from the people roaming the streets. The atmosphere was filled with tension. Italy's conscious continually stated he should not be there. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest. Italy turned a full circle, looking for the person who had directed him here. Besides Italy, he seemed to be the only thing alive in the alley. He couldn't hear any animals or bugs, or was that just his heart beating too loudly? The alley seemed lifeless.

"Italy!"

The sudden voice made him yelp and quickly turn to the source of the voice. The sudden movement of his own feet caused him to fall.

Italy looked up to where the voice had come from. Two pink eyes were staring at him. He could just make out a smile and a hand outstretched.

His hand shook uncontrollably as he hesitated to reach for the hand. After a minute, he took it. The person took a step back, allowing Italy to get up.

"You scared me there, Italy!" The voice had an Italian accent. He thought it was his brother Romano, but the voice was too high. The voice...

Italy looked up at the person's face and almost passed out from the shock. His own face was staring back at him, gleaming rosy eyes and a smile that was trying too hard to be friendly.

Italy couldn't find his voice. He tried to say something, but nothing came out.

"Italy, don't you recognize me? I am truly hurt," The voice, it was exactly Italy's.

"It's me! Luciano!"

"Um..."

"You really don't remember me? Well, I suppose you were quite young."

As Italy regained his focus, he took in what was in front of him. Essentially, this man was a direct copy of Italy, asides from the eyes and the clothes. He wore a brown version of Italy's uniform. Atop of his head was a hat with a purple feather spilling out at the left side and... oh god, even the curl of hair was on the same side.

"Uh... I'm sorry, but that doesn't ring a bell" Italy finally said.

" _Che peccato_ ,"Luciano said. "I guess you were too young. I was around when you but a chibi. You and your brother!"

Italy didn't know what to do. He had no idea whether to believe this person or not. He seemed to know a bit about him. Still, something seemed off about him.

"Oh, Okay," Italy tried to regain composure, but he didn't even have that much to gather. "Uh, why do you look like me?"

"We're cousins!" Luciano said with glee. "I have your blood, and you have mine,"

Italy wasn't comfortable knowing he "had his blood". Besides, weren't Germany and Prussia cousins with Austria? They couldn't be further apart in looks.

Italy decided to play along, still apprehensive. "Uh, Luciano". He realized he was using a human name, and not the name of a country. He hasn't heard of any new countries coming up recently. Maybe he was a former country, and no one ever talked about him. Italy still had his doubts, but he kept repeating that to himself inside his head in order to keep himself calm. It didn't seem to be working.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Luciano said holding up his finger. "I wanted to show you something."

Italy nearly fainted from relief when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. The name the screen showed accompanied by the picture of a man who clearly did not want a selfie instantly calmed Italy down.

'Doitsu'

He was about to hit answer when Luciano's hand stopped him. The panic came back in a flash.

"Not right now," Luciano said with a seemingly friendly expression. "Wait until after I show you,"

Italy felt his phone come out of his hand. He heard Luciano set it on the floor a meter away from them. He only moved after the ringing stopped. The screen on his phone read 'One missed call'

"Now then," Luciano continued. "I'm going to show you a, ah, magic trick, if you want to use that phrase,"

Italy's phone rang a seconds time, Germany popped up again. Both waited for the ringing to stop, though Italy wanted desperately to shove Luciano away and pick up. The only reason he wasn't doing that was that he was positive this man was far more skilled than he was. Faster, strong, smarter, possibly. The phone rang a third time almost immediately after the second one. After that, the phone didn't make any more noise.

After waiting for a second to see if any more calls would go through, he turned back to Italy. "Okay, we can get moving at last," he began digging in his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a stick, but the light was so bad he couldn't really tell.

"What is that?" Italy asked in a shaky voice. If Luciano noticed it, he didn't care.

"The trick I want to show you!" Luciano replied gleefully. "See, your grandfather taught you many things, but I bet he never showed you how to do this,"

Italy flinched at the name of his grandfather. Grandpa Rome taught him how to read, write, draw, sing (To an extent), and all other sorts of things. The fact that Luciano knows about Grandpa Rome put Italy even more on edge.

"Rome taught me this when I was very small." Luciano proceeded. "It has helped me in many conflicts, I'm sure he would want you to know it"

Italy's phone ringed again, which made both of them jump. This time, the screen read ' _Miglior fratello mai!_ ' It was Romano.

"Oh, for the love of," Luciano marched over to Italy's phone and, to Italy's shock, threw it as far as he could, which was some ways. He heard a distant splash, meaning it must've landed in the river not far from where they were.

Italy was terrified for his life. What did Luciano intend on showing him? He almost wanted to know, key word being _almost._

The thing that terrified Italy is why Romano tried to call right after Germany tried to call. Did they think he was in trouble, or know? They were trying to reach him, and he wasn't capable of picking up. Hopefully, they got they got the message that he was in quite a deep predicament.

Luciano's face was red, but a few deep breaths and his skin turned back it's normal color, which Italy realized was a bit tanner than his own. "Okay, hopefully, there will be no more delays," he paused as if he was waiting for a second phone to ring. None did.

"Okay, now where was I?" Luciano asked

Italy didn's answer but brought up a question of his own. "Why would Grandpa Rome teach you something that he wouldn't teach me?"

Luciano thought hard before answering. "Well, let's be honest, you were just a small chibi, yes? I was several decades older than you." Luciano waved his left hand around as he spoke, in his right hand was the stick-like object. Italy still had no idea what it could be.

"But no matter now," Luciano said, "I am about to teach you how to do it, so it's not like it matters, right?" Luciano said. "Now, to begin."

"Um... actually, I don't think I need to know it," Italy said with a nervous laugh. "So, no need to-"

" _VENEZIANO!_ _DOVE SEI?_ "A voice rang through the alley. It was distant, but Italy knew very well who it was.

" _SONO QUI, FRATELLO!_ " Italy has never been more relieved to hear his brothers voice. ' _Dove sei_ '. Where are you? He was looking for him. He felt more relieved.

Romano was next to him in literally seconds. Italians are famous for their speed. Though he was gasping for breath, he still managed to speak a full sentence.

"Veneziano, are you alright?" Romano looked at Italy, who hugged him so hard Italy thought he was going to crack Romano's rib cage, but he didn't care. He was so happy to see Romano. Italy forgot about Luciano, who stood there, not saying anything.

After some time passed, Romano suddenly pulled back. He stared at Italy in the eye, with a worried look on his face.

"Make sure it's actually him" Romano muttered to himself.

"What?" Italy asked.

Romano suddenly grabbed Italy by the face and inspected it carefully. Italy was perplexed, but he didn't resist. He let go a few seconds later and looked relieved.

Only then did Romano notice Luciano. He hadn't moved the entire time, which Italy found creepy

"Who the hell are you?" Romano pointed at Luciano.

"I'm your cousin, Luciano. I just so happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I would drop by and say hello to Italy here!"

"We don't have any damn cousins, you bastard!" Romano was pissed, and you don't want to confront a pissed Italian.

"Oh, come on now" Luciano began to raise the stick he was holding. "That's no way to treat family now, is it?"

It was then that Italy recognized what the stick was. As he raised the object in his hand, a ray of sunlight passed it, causing the sharp metal of a blade to become visible. The metal shined radiantly.

'It's a knife' Italy thought to himself.

"Italy, run,"

Italy couldn't hear Romano. He was frozen, not able to listen to his brother.

"Italy, I said RUN!"

The brothers took off in unison. After years of practice, they were quite good at running. Italy was the faster runner, but Romano was more endurant, being able to run for hours upon hours without a break. Italy wasn't ashamed of saying that they got the practice through retreating in battle, Romano, though, was a bit more defensive.

Through breaths, Italy asked, "Where are we going?"

"The meeting place" Romano panted. "Germany called me and said you could be in some deep shit, and hey! The potato bastard was right!"

They ran down the street, shoving surprised Italians and tourist groups out of the way. At some point, the street got too crowded, so they ended up jumping on the outdoor tables of a cafe in order to avoid getting slowed down. Italy accidentally tripped on someone's head, causing them to go face first into their _Ciceri e Tria._

 _"_ _Scusate!_ _"_ Italy apologized. As Italy looked back at the poor customer, he saw Luciano not far behind him, taking the same idea Italy and Romano had taken. Italy pushed Romano and told him to go faster.

When the road cleared up a bit, they bolted across to the other side of the street.

"Veneziano, do you know where this place is?"

"Ve, yes!" Italy took the small lead to direct his brother.

Unfortunately, the route to get there involved going through the center of the city, which was blocked by yet another crowd of tourists. Of course, they didn't find that out until they were right on top of them. The two took a hard left into an alley in hopes to circle the crowd. The alley stretched for a few blocks. Sooner than anticipated, a brick wall that appeared to belong to a bakery was closing in quickly. Trash cans were littered at the end of the alley, all surrounding a door. They could either go right, back onto the street or left, and head towards the outskirts. In all honesty, Italy wasn't sure what direction the meeting was. He would have to go out to the street to regain his sense of direction.

Italy risked another look behind him. Romano was a bit farther behind him than he would like. Right behind Romano was Luciano, who had his knife hand ready to swing.

"Romano!" Italy slowed down, grabbed his brother, and pulled him to the right. They took a turn to sharp it could've cut the tension of this escape. Luciano apparently wasn't paying attention to what was in front of Italy. As the two continued running out on the street, Italy heard metal crashing into the cement of the alley behind them. Italy heard Romano laughing behind him

"Ha! Take that, you pink-eyed bastard! That'll show you not to mess with us!"

Italy would've gladly stopped right where he was and taken the time to celebrate, but he knew that they only bought a bit of time. Luciano would be back on his feet in a few seconds, and it wouldn't take long for him to begin to catch up again.

"Veneziano!" Romano yelled. "How much farther are we from this place? Where are we going?"

"Straight path, to your right!"

The two ran out of the city and into the wooded area. They would soon cross the border of Switzerland, and then into Germany after that. Italy knew Luciano wouldn't be far behind them. Italy wasn't as worried as he was previously, though. He knew Luciano was strong and skilled, but against the other nations that would be there, there was no way he would be able to do any damage.

"Veneziano" Romano yelled

"Yes?"

"Next time you go out by yourself, how about you stay away from our damned "Cousins", would you? I'm not doing this again!"

"I'll try, Romano"

"That's not a definite answer!"

Italy stayed silent.

"Veneziano! Are you grinning? You little shit!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello Again**

 **I've been thinking about where I want this story to go, and it may go a way people will either really love, or really hate by the end of this chapter. I know there are a lot of interpretations of the 2p characters, so I figured I could alter some of the personalities of a couple of them. Not all of them, but I'm really gonna adjust the one that you will meet by the end of this chapter. Or maybe this is the way the person acts, I don't know. Keep an open mind, it may actually work. Or it could be a huge crash and burn. Either way, it's gonna be one helluva ride.**

 **P.S. I used the wiki for some of the 2ps in this. Not surprising.**

* * *

 _America's POV_

America was one of the last nations to arrive at the conference, but in his own defense, he was held back by his "Friend", who was complaining the entire way.

American had woken up that day with some one swearing in his living room. When he went down to investigate, some guy with his jacket, a bat with nails driven into it and a New Yorker accent tried to bash his brains out. Fortunately, America avoided it and smashed a coke can on his head. He likes to think the can did all of the damage, but he hit his head on the wall, so that was probably what did the job. Soon after, Germany called America and reported a similar difficulty. They called off the original topic of the Conference they had that day ( :( ) and instead decided to discuss what they were to do with these invaders. He called everyone that was going to be at the meeting, learning that almost everyone had the same issue. China was already on the way with his counterpart and Japan, France, and England were still at their place. Japan said he may be late, though he didn't say why.

Canada and Russia became the outliers of this situation. They hadn't found any doppelgangers at their place, which was weird, but America chose to take that as a good sign.

By the time America and his friend had gotten off the plane in Germany, he had already grown used to the name "Pork Chop". He had refrained from speaking most of the flight, but as land came in sight, he began doing a little bit of explaining. It didn't total up to very much, as he had had no idea why he was there either. He talked as if he wasn't from this world, which was probably true. That was it. He wouldn't spill anything else.

During the course of the flight, America got attacked by his counterpart a total of 27 times, and that wasn't including spits and rude gestures. On multiple occasions, he tried to hit America in the face, neck, abdomen, and his groin. Other times he attempted to take back his nail covered bat, which America took with him because it looked neat as fuck. He even took out a spare pistol he apparently had hidden in his jacket. Fortunately, asides from a cracked pair of glasses, he wasn't affected by the assaults.

The only other thing America learned was his counterpart's human name, Allen. He didn't like how it was similar to his own, Alfred, but there was nothing he could do about it. At least he could use something other than "Pal" or "Bud".

When they landed, Allen immediately took off to the wooded area that surrounded the airport. Turns out, Allen was actually really fast. Unlucky for him, Allen didn't know this place, and that proved to be the advantage for America. He managed to cut him off by taking a shorter route than on the path Allen was on. He caught Allen with a tackle that sent them both flying. America pinned Allen's hands behind his back, and Allen didn't appear to like it.

"Ah, shit dude! What the fuck!" Allen yelled.

"Hey man, if ya hadn't gone off running, this wouldn't have happened," America said. "You can't get away from me that easily!"

"Uh, America?" Asked a small, almost incomprehensible voice.

America looked up to see his brother, Canada. Wrapped in his arms was his bear, Kuma. Canada was wearing his red hoodie with the maple leaf on it, along with a pair of jeans. His expression was a mix between worry and confusion. He didn't seem to understand what was going on.

"Canada, hey!" America said, getting up on his feet. He brought Allen up with him, making sure his arms were still pinned. "I've told you about this guy. This is Allen. Say hi to Canada, Allen,"

Allen suddenly burst out laughing as if what America had just said was hilarious. Canada jumped back from the sudden sound. America didn't know what this guy thought was funny, but it didn't seem to be good. In contrary to America's laugh, Allen had sort of had one of those "I'm insane" laughs. He was leaning forward, and America had to readjust his position in order to keep him from falling on the ground.

"No, you gotta be kidding," Allen finally said. "There is NO way you're Canada."

Canada's face must've been enough of an answer for Allen because he soon began laughing again. When he regained his control, he simply just grinned creepily at Canada. This made Canada extremely uncomfortable, causing him to avert his gaze to elsewhere. Kuma looked up at his owner, then at Allen. Kuma looked like he understood as much as America did, which was nothing.

"So, Canada," America said to break the silence. "Did you just get here?"

"No, actually, I've been here for a while now," Canada answered. "I've already been inside the meeting room, and it wasn't exactly a peaceful location."

"Dammit, am I the last one?"

"No, Italy hasn't arrived yet."

"Yeah, but he's always late."

"Oh, then you are the last one."

America sighed, but continued. "So, what's it like in there?"

"Uh, it would probably be best if you saw it for yourself," Canada said.

"Alright then," America said gleefully, shoving Allen so he would walk forward. "Better not keep everyone waiting then."

The three began walking towards the Conference location, which wasn't really far from where they were. In fact, he could already see the building, despite being in the forest.

"Oh, America?" Canada asked in his usual quiet tone. America had to lean in close to hear.

"Why did you bring a bat?" Canada asked, motioning his head to the nail covered stick strapped to his back.

"Oh, it's Allen's. He tried to bash me in the head with it," America responded as if he had said. "He gave it to me,"

"Why?" Canada asked

"Cause it looks cool as fuck" America replied.

"Wouldn't that mean he has a chance to take it and use it against you?"

"Nah man. He can't take it from me. I'm way too strong for him,"

As if on cue, Allen kicked America in his shin, causing him to stop and swear a bit, but his grip never faltered.

"Oh, this is gonna be one hell of a day" America sighed.

They got to the building in no time. The structure was a basic meeting building that mainly companies used to do business deals. Germany usually used the room to the right at the end of the hall to host Conferences. Canada leads the way and turned out Germany had used the same room. On the other side of the door, a heated argument was going on, and it didn't seem to be calming down anytime soon. America was about to open the doors when Canada grabbed one of his shoulders.

"It's going to be hectic in there, America."

"It can't be that bad," America gave Canada a thumbs up. "I'm sure it'll be fine"

America opened the wooden doors into the Conference room. The conversation that had been beforehand raging with no authority ceased and everyone looked over to the three nations.

China sat at the end of the table closest to the door, so he had to turn around in order to see America. Next to China was a man who resembled him, thus continuing the look-alike trend. China's counterpart wasn't that much different, asides from the sleeveless outfit and military cap. There was a tattoo of a dragon on his left arm, but China had the same one. It was just weird, seeing as China never wore short sleeve shirts. The expression he wore showed he seemed uninterested in what had previously been going on. His eyes were blood red and looked more like Japan than anything.

To the left of China were four empty seats, presumably for America, Canada, and their counterparts, even though Canada didn't appear to have one. Next to those seats was Russia, the other nation with no doppelganger. Russia seemed to be very cheerful, despite the situation.

Next to Russia was Germany, who had been standing with his hands placed firmly on the table. He was at the other end of the table, as he always was. Sitting next to him was his counterpart. His eyes were a light purple and showed little emotion. He had a brownish yellow jacket hanging from his shoulders, along with a black hat. A very noticeable scar that began under his eye and ended halfway down his face. The same cross that Germany wore was hanging from his neck as well. The side of his face without the scar was forming a purple bruise, roughly the size of Germany's hand. America could only imagine how their meeting went.

Next was Japan, who was the first to sit on the right side of the table. His counterpart barely even looked up, only a quick glance before continuing to look straight ahead. He was wearing a black version of Japans outfit. Red eyes accompanied a seemingly permanent glower. What, are red eyes just a dominant gene where they were from? His hair was a few shades lighter than Japan's and a bit messier, but the fact that Japan had a similar style of hair indicated it was due to a struggle. Maybe that was why Japan said he would be late.

France was beside Japan. France looked almost embarrassed by his counterpart, and for good reason. Unlike France, his counterpart did not care about his appearance whatsoever. His clothes seemed to be chosen randomly, and his hair had no order. His eyes were a deep shade of purple, were staring at America judgementally. He had a lit cigarette in his mouth, not caring about the "No Smoking" policy. Judging by France's hand over his mouth, he didn't seem to enjoy it. The look on his face determined that he was thinking, and it didn't look like anything good. There was something in France's hand, but it was under the table, so he couldn't tell what. Maybe it was his phone? This was going all over Twitter, wasn't it?

Finally, there was England, and he didn't look happy. Infront of him was a plate of delicious looking cinnamon buns. They couldn't have been made by him, so it must've been his counterpart. America found that funny and would have to bring it up in conversation later. His doppelganger looked like he was fresh out of Alice in Wonderland. His pink hair was the first thing you noticed about him. His blue eyes showed a strong look of excitement. He had a dark pink vest with a much lighter shade of pink dress shirt underneath, and a baby blue bow. He seemed to have been urging England to eat the cinnamon buns, though he had obviously declined them. Was he just jealous of his cooking?

"Oh, America, you're finally here," France threw up his hands in a 'Thank God' manner. His counterpart rolled his eyes at the gesture. "May you settle our debate? This _Ingrat homme_ will not accept my generous offer of a new set of attire. Even worse, he believes I am 'To Flashy'. Tell him that I am fabulous."

"France!" Germany intervened "That is the least of your worries. Take a seat, America."

America sat between Allen and Canada in hopes of preventing Allen trying to attack his brother. Allen flipped off France's counterpart for no real reason and took his seat. America gave him a questioning expression but only got a dirty look in response.

"Now then," Germany said, sitting back down. "Japan, could you fill America in on what we have been talking about?"

"Not very far," Japan looked over to Allen, who was playing with his sunglasses. "Until you arrived, It has just been an argument between England, France, and their opposites about multiple topics all at once. However, China's opposite kindly told us about his world, and how there are apparently counterparts for every nation, including the old ones, like the Roman Empire, though he perished. Also, they have no idea how they got here,"

Across the table, England's doppelganger covered his mouth, trying to stifle a giggle. England looked over at him with a disapproving look, as if he was trying to say "What the bloody hell?". He even said it out load, so that must've been what he meant.

"What's so funny?" Russia asked. "Have I missed a good joke?"

"Oh, if only you knew, love." England's counterpart replied. Man, he even sounded like he was from Alice in Wonderland. "Good old Ollie would never break a promise. Especially when it was from my own self, would I?" He turned to England, who looked like he wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face.

"Don't give them your human name!" China's counterpart suddenly shot up out of his seat. "You have no idea what they could do with that information!"

"Oh, were we not suppose to do that?" Allen looked up from his sunglasses, which were now hanging from his right index finger. "Cause I totally gave my name to pork chop over here." He pointed to America without looking at him.

"Idiot!" France's counterpart nearly threw the chair he was sitting on across the table, but England and Japan managed to pull it out of his grip before he could do so. France stood back, possibly not wanting to mess up his hair. An argument began to brew between the trio. France's doppelganger was threatening to attack with his cigar. He pulled it out of his mouth and began thrusting it at them as if it were a dagger. Both backed away in surprise.

"Enough!" Germany shouted. All talking ceased, and everyone turned to Germany. He sighed and put a hand on his forehead.

"This is what you deal with here?" Germany's doppelganger asked. His voice was quieter than Germany's.

"You have no idea," Germany put his hand down and looked over at England. "What is he talking about?"

"Uh, well, you see-" England began.

"I wouldn't blame it all on Arthur here," England's counterpart interrupted. Did he say his name was Ollie? Was that short for Oliver? It sounded like a British name. "After all, I was the one who wanted to have a chat with my friend here. I had no idea it would send us all into this world. Honestly, he just wanted to talk to me as well. That's why he opened up the portal. Why he had to do it in the middle of the ni-"

"This was your fault?!" Germany's stare could've been enough to melt steel. "This is all because of you?"

"Now, now" England put up his hands in an attempt to surrender. "The spell specifically said that I would be able to 'communicate with another universe'. I had no idea this would happen!"

For the first time since America has been here, China spoke. "I nearly got beheaded by a sword by a crazy man just so you can 'communicate'?"

"My clothes nearly got burnt!"

"My copy attempted to run my bath water red with blood."

"Well, he nearly poisoned me with cyanide! Don't you dare think you are the only bloody ones!"

"Guy's check out this awesome bat!"

"Silence!" Once again, the room went quiet. Germany continued.

"Now, while I am sure you would all love to share experiences with your counterparts, we have more urgent matters at hand. Such as the-"

"Ooh! Names" America shot his hand up and began bouncing in his seat. Germany ignored him until he looked over and saw the look in his eye. The very same look is the one he gave Canada when trying to convince him to replace all of England's tea with maple syrup. He had denied it until he gave in 7 hours later.

"Ugh, fine," Germany said with reluctance. "Go ahead, America."

America looked over to Allen, who didn't realize it until he put his sunglasses back on his head. He seemed confused, but he got the message.

"Oh, Right." Allen looked over to China's end of the table and began. "That right there is Xiao, but I like to call him... Xiao, cause that's his name". America looked over to Xiao, who was throwing Allen a highly threatening glare.

"Over there you got Oliver, as you may have already figured out. He prefers Ollie, so call him Oliver."

"Then you got Francois, with a weird ass 'c' in it. I have no idea why it's there, and I don't think anyone ever writes it the way it's supposed to be."

"And that's Kuro. Or Honda. I still don't get Easterns, what the first name is and what the last name is."

''Next is Lutz, which is really German. Like, seriously, I know you represent the country, but that's, like the one name people think of when they hear the word 'Germany', right?"

"And I'm obviously Allen, the most capable person here"

Francois rolled his eyes. "As if. You can barely hit anyone with that bat. It really is just a waste of paper."

"Waste of paper, eh?" Allen began to reach for his bat. America took it and set it between him and Canada, who has turned a bit pale. Following his gaze, he saw Japan's counterpart, Kuro, staring at Canada. His stare seemed to be death itself. America was beginning to get a little creeped out himself

"So," America said. "Any idea why Canada and Russia don't have a counterpart? I mean, you would think they would, right?"

Canada looked over at America. Good, he thought. At least his attention is off of Kuro.

"Let's just be glad they are not here," Germany responded. "What I am concerned about it how we can get them back there. England, I hope that it is possible to do so?"

"Yes, of course," England pulled out a leather bound book with the design of a star on it. His spell book. "Granted, we would have to wait for a full 72 hours before we can even begin preparing the portal to send them back. Along with that, Oliver never brought his spell book, so it will take some time to decipher the correct phrases he needs to say."

"Aww, I don't wanna go, love," Oliver said as if he were a child. "I like it here!"

"Yeah, Oliver's got a point for once" Allen agreed.

"No way!" Germany said sternly. "You are going back as soon as possible. I am not dealing with this longer than I must!"

At that very moment, a high pitched scream rang through the entire building. It came from the outside of the room. It was followed by a very panicked Italian voice.

"Which room is it, Veneziano!"

A higher one replied. "Uh, the one on the end to the hall at the left, I mean right!"

"Italy?" Germany said quietly, a tone similar to Lutz's

Right then, the doors burst open. Two very frantic men ran through, gasping for air. They stopped right at the table, behind China and Xiao.

"Dammit...Veneziano!" Romano said between breaths. "Tell me the directions beforehand so we... aren't standing around and losing time"

"Italy! Are you two alright!" Germany asked with a slight tinge of worry in his voice.

"Doitsu!" Italy said gleefully. He looked up at Germany and waved. "Sorry I never answered the phone! It... got taken away from me."

"Taken away?" Canada asked. "By who?"

"By me," said a voice behind them.

The two Italian's didn't even have to turn to react. Both immediately yelped and ran away from the door. Romano went behind the first person larger than him, which was Russia. Italy bolted for the opposite end of the room, towards Germany. Everyone turned to look for the origin of the speech, standing in the process. They found it in the doorway.

The man looked like Italy, which was not surprising at this point. His uniform was of the brown variety of Italian military wear. Accompanied by that was a hat with a purple feather. His eyes were wide, revealing pink eyes in contrary to Italy' s brown ones. He was winded, but his stance was ready, and he held a knife in his right hand. Had they been chased all the way from Italy? Good thing the two were skilled runners, America thought. His expression wore a fake smile as if he were crazy. Straight out of a mental ward.

"Well, how nice it is that we are all together," Italy's counterpart said. "I hope that we are all getting along?"

"Luci, dude," Allen said with a mischevious grin. "How's it going? I was worried Ya wouldn't show up!"

"Luci?" America wondered aloud. "Isn't that a girls name?"

"Luciano, actually" the man replied, eyeing Allen with a "Don't you dare" sort of look. "I believe we can all get along without any trouble, no?"

"Don't believe a word he says," Romano said, peeking out from behind Russia. "Pink-eyed bastard nearly stabbed me in the neck."

"Ve, and he threw my phone!" Italy added.

"Ooh, that's cold," China commented.

"Oh, but that was just so we had no more interruptions, you see." Luciano was now looking at Romano, who quickly retreated behind Russia once more. He then turned to Germany and pointed. "That one right there wouldn't stop calling. We wouldn't want to have any delays."

"What would Germany have been delaying," Japan asked.

"Oh, just a demonstration" Luciano twirled his knife in his fingers, his eyes too dangerous for America to feel comfortable with him having a weapon.

"Okay then," America took a step towards Luciano, though it wasn't a big one. "Well, we really aren't supposed to have weapons in the Conference room, so how about you put the knife down and we can discuss what we're gonna do next." America put on a grin, but he was honestly scared of this guy. He wouldn't dare say it aloud, though. He was the hero! He couldn't back down and cower in a corner.

"No weapons?" Luciano looked disappointed, but only for a second, before being replaced with his chaotic smirk. "But I don't know if you could take it from me,"

"Maybe not, but I certainly can," Russia interposed. He pulled out his water pipe, 4 and a half feet of pain. "So put the knife on the table, da?"

America had to admit, the man was always scary, but he never really had an intention on hurting people unless he had to. So if someone was being threatening, especially to one of his friends (Which was usually everyone), he knew how to look intimidating. He couldn't see from where he was, but he bet Russia was wearing a friendly smile. One that would usually tell people he was a nice guy. However, judging from his pipe and the purple aura that was now surrounding him, he wasn't up to make buddies with Luciano at the moment. Which was great, seeing as he understood the situation. Russia didn't always get the danger in problems like these.

Luciano didn't seem phased in the slightest. He studied Russia as if to decide whether he was a worthy opponent or not. After a bit, he put his knife arm down, still not dropping it.

"Hm," Luciano's grin never left. "Your doppelganger is not here, it seems. Would you like to meet him?"

Russia seemed to tilt his head in curiosity. The room was silent, but it was broken by Luciano once more.

"Well then. How about you then, Canada" He turned to Canada, who jumped at the mention of his name. "Would you like to meet yours?"

"I-I, um..." Canada stuttered, clearly frightened of what his counterpart may be like. Kuma still seemed to be clueless to the situation.

"I'll take that as a yes" Luciano's smile grew wider. "Finally, our party can be complete."

From behind him, two figures emerged out of the shadows. America hadn't even realized that the curtains at the end of the hallway were closed, allowing only the artificial lights in the hall and the light from the Conference room to illuminate the area where Luciano stood. Apparently, the closest light in the hall was some ways down.

The figure to the right of Luciano was only a bit taller than him. He wore a flannel shirt that had the first two buttons undone. His sunglasses covered his eyes, but his expression was clear, and it showed boredom. His jeans were ripped at the knees and the ankles. His hair was very long, blonde, and pulled back into a ponytail, with strands of hair coming out everywhere. A bit of hair grew at his chin. In his hands was a hockey stick. The head of it was covered in barbed wire, making it look very intimidating.

The man to the left of Luciano was _very_ tall. Like, seriously, it wasn't even a joke. He had to be 6 and a half feet, at the very least. His hair was a messy black, swooping to the left. His eyes were, once again, a crimson red. His face was devoid of emotion. He wore a black military coat with a red lining. The guy was holding a shovel, and something told America it wasn't for digging. That, accompanied by the emotionless face was enough to make America want to get as far away from this guy as possible.

The two, they looked like-

"These two are Matt and Viktor," Luciano said, completing America's thought. "The two counterparts we were looking for,"

America looked at Russia, who hasn't made any blatant reactions to his counterpart, though he could tell he was trying to size up to him. At that moment America realized Viktor was the only doppelganger with a height difference, and it just had to be the tallest nation. If it came down to a fight, America wasn't willing to bet his money on either of the two on who was stronger. He convinced himself Russia could beat this guy, but that didn't make the shovel any less intimidating.

Canada was a different story. America saw that he was terrified. His line of vision was fixed on his counterpart, Matt. He was looking in their general direction, but it was impossible to tell exactly where due to his sunglasses. Canada's eyes seemed to be pinpointed on the hockey stick. While it was no shovel, the barbed wire was worth being wary of. Kuma was looking at Matt as well. America wondered "Is there a Kuma where they are from? Maybe he actually remembers who Canada is!"

"Hello, loves, nice to see you!" Oliver waved at the two. "How has your day been?"

"Okay, I guess" Canada replied with little enthusiasm. Viktor only nodded at Oliver.

"Well, now that we are all together," Luciano continued. "I believe we should have a discussion."

He turned towards Oliver. "How many people are here right now?"

"Well, while I was performing the spell, I saw 10 sparks of energy, so I'd say we're missing someone."

"Oh God," Luciano's face suddenly turned annoyed. "I hope it's not Flavio"

"Oh, great." Francois seemed annoyed too. "Last thing I need right now is Flavio running in here trying to get me into a suit and tie, that _connard_ "

Romano looked in disgust at Francois. "Flavio? What kind of crap name is that? Sounds like that guy is a bastard."

"Anyway," Luciano's continued, ignoring Romano. "I'm assuming we already had introductions, yes? Good, so I don't have to waste any more time. Let's not worry about the last person for now. Instead, I would like to focus on what we are going to do next." Luciano, who has been twirling his knife in his hand, gripped the handle of it tightly. "Any ideas, Allen?"

"I like the way you think," Allen gave America a dangerous look. He considered pulling out his pistol.

"We are certainly not going to do anything like that," Germany's voice was stern, commanding. "There will be no fighting. What there will be is a civilized discussion about how we are to get you back to where you came from. If any of you show even the slightest indication of causing damage to something or someone, I will not hesitate to enforce the rules!"

Luciano stared at Germany in a similar way he did with Russia, analyzing his foe. Luciano straightened his posture, and with a smile said "Go"

America hadn't realized he was talking to Lutz until it was too late. With very fluent movement, Lutz kicked his chair aside and moved towards Italy. He seized him by the arm and pulled him away from the table. From somewhere, he had pulled out a knife with his right hand and pressed it against Italy's throat. His left hand held a pistol that was pointing at Germany.

"Italy!" Germany took out two of his own guns and pointed one at Lutz, the other aiming at Luciano. He was pretty far, but America didn't dare question his aim.

The next few seconds were a blur. America remembered Allen going for his bat, and he tried to stop it. He must've gotten it somehow because he ended up pulling out his gun and aiming it at him in his own defense. He also ended up taking Allen's spare pistol, pivoting to the side, and aiming it towards Lutz. Allen had his nail-covered bat pointed at him. He saw four nails pointing outward, ready to pierce anything in its path.

America took a second to look around, seeing everyone else had brought out their own weapons as well. Russia and Viktor were inches away from each other's faces, and America could still see the unsettling calmness in Viktor's expression. Matt was ready to swing at England, who didn't seem to have a weapon at the time, so he put up his fists to block any oncoming attack. France had pulled out what he had under the table, which was actually a rapier. He hasn't seen much of it in his time of knowing France, but he was really good at using it. The blade was pointed at Francois, who had a similar weapon out, though his other hand held some sort of pistol, pointed at Russia. Japan and Kuro had their katanas, ready to break out into a fight. China had taken out his frying pan and aimed it at Xiao, who was in a martial arts position, both hands up. No one attacked, yet.

"I will saute your ass off, karate freak!" China threatened to Xiao, who didn't say anything.

" _Vous cherchez à perdre la tête, non? Ne sois pas stupide_ " Francois said in a low tone. He didn't know that much French, but he supposed it meant "You about to get decapitated, bitch!"

"Calm down, everyone," England said, trying to keep the violence down. It didn't have any effect, sadly.

"Let Veneziano go!" Romano demanded confidently, who had pressed his back up against the wall as far as he could.

Lutz said nothing. He had a devious grin, his eyes directed at Germany, who was pissed beyond belief, and he always seemed pissed. He didn't show any signs of worry or concern, but America knew it was there.

Germany, realizing he couldn't reason with this guy, turned towards Luciano. "Call him off, Luciano."

"Oh, what are you gonna do?" Luciano replied. Man, that guy was infuriating. He wasn't aiming his knife at anyone. Was he supposed to be the leader? He provoked everyone to pull out their weapons, so he at least knew how to start a fight with people. "Shoot me? I'd like to see you try. Even if you could, who would say everyone would stop there?"

Germany must've already figured this out. He turned back to Italy and Lutz. "Are you alright, Italy?"

"Ve, I think so," Italy responded nervously.

"C'mon, dude," America looked to Luciano, his guns still pointed at Allen and Lutz. "You put down the weapons, we put down the weapons, we're all happy."

"I do not agree with putting down our weapons," Japan said. Neither he or his counterpart had made any movement. "I have lost what little trust I have in these people."

"People is a generous term," Romano said from the wall. "Freak would be more appropriate."

"We're not the ones backed up against the wall" Matt pointed out. He moved his hockey stick towards England who backed up. He spotted a glass water bottle. He smashed it against the table and pointed it at Matt.

"Impressive weapon choice," France complimented. It sounded genuine, too.

"Thank you," England responded.

"Shut up," Luciano commanded. He looked over to America. "Surely _you_ have seen enough movies to know that line never works. I don't know that much about my counterpart, but I am never one to back down from a battle,"

"There's a major difference," China looked over to Italy. He didn't seem to have his white flag on him, but if he did, he would've been using it no doubt.

Luciano continued. "Now, I didn't chase two people to this place just to chat. I want blood, and I'm going to get it," Luciano looked around the room hungrily, scanning each nation carefully. Each nation watched him intently. His eyes went around the room a few times before stopping on someone behind America.

"You."

America looked behind him to see who it was. Canada stood there, petrified. His breath was growing more ragged, and he had taken a half step back but stopped there. He was extremely scared right now, and it isn't often Canada is scared of something. Then again, it wasn't that often Canada had a reason to be scared. That was a good thing, but seeing the look on his brother's face made America sick to the stomach.

Luciano began to make his way towards Canada. He walked beside Russia and Viktor who were still facing each other. Russia stepped to the side and pivoted as Luciano passed them in order to watch, or jump in if he needed to, but still kept Viktor in view. America saw that his friendly smile has been long gone, but there was still no fear. His eyes were darting between Luciano and Canada, but not in a panicked way, more like he was wondering what his next move should be. Viktor didn't seem to care about the events that were about to unfold, seeing as his face was still without feeling.

Luciano held his knife at head level, the blade facing downward as if he was preparing to stab someone. His eyes were full of amusement. America had no doubt that amusement was drawn from the fear in Canada's face.

Luciano was only a few steps away from Canada when he was stopped. America stepped in front of his brother, pistols at his side. He didn't care about Allen at the moment. Canada was the important one right now. Rage was beginning to well up inside America. His expression was grim, his eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, no," America said with sternness in his voice. He wasn't willing to take any shit from any one right now.

"Oh, is this how you want to play?" Luciano seemed even more entertained at this point. "Listen, you don't want to fight me. I could kill you blindfolded and both hands tied behind my back. I don't find guns threatening, especially if you don't know how to use them."

The insult meant nothing to America, but it didn't deter his rage by any amount. He held his ground.

"Oh well then," Luciano sighed. "Suit yourself,"

"C'mon Luci," Allen said. "I wanted to kill him."

Luciano looked enraged but didn't take his eyes off America. "You'll get to kill some one soon enough, Allen. Just be quiet."

Allen seemed furious but said nothing to respond.

"Now then," Luciano bent his knees and pulled his knife arm back. "I can't wait to see your face after this,"

Luciano went for a stab in the abdomen. America sidestepped to the right and considered shooting his gun, but decided to swing his gun at Luciano's head. If he missed his shot, it could hit someone else. He ducked and attacked again.

His speed is amazing, America thought to himself. This attack he couldn't get out of the way of in time. He put up his right hand to block the knife but timed it wrong. The knife went straight through his palm, both glove, and flesh. America yelled and dropped his right gun. He held his injured hand, looking up at Luciano, who was now thrusting again.

He moved away in time and took a few steps towards the wall in order to regain his focus. He chose to deal with his hand later. He no longer had his dominant hand, his enemy was very skilled with his own, and his palm was bleeding profusely. Not the best circumstances. Before he had time to think of an idea, Luciano charged with his blade once more, this time aiming for his heart.

With quick and precise movement, America slide out of the was and dashed to the side of Luciano. He aimed his gun at him and fired. Luciano saw the gun and moved out of the way swiftly. The bullet shot across the room and hit a glass vase, which shattered on impact.

America turned to Luciano, who swung his knife at America. He put up his hand to block it, once again timing it incorrectly. The knife left a deep gash in America's forearm. He winced, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as the aching in his hand was. He shot again, only to have Luciano move out of the way and push him against the wall, which had somehow ended up behind him.

Multiple events happened all at once He saw Luciano raise his knife to strike. He heard various people yelling, a few moving towards him and Luciano. No one seemed willing to directly intervene, however. The sound of a gun rang through the room. The noise of a knife clattering to the floor followed shortly after. Luciano stumbled back and fell to his knees. He saw him gripping his arm and muttering curses in Italian.

Did America shoot him? He looked down at his hands to find that they were both empty. He must've dropped it. He saw his gun a few feet away. He looked up to find that everyone, even Kuro, was staring in astonishment. Everyone except one.

Canada's hands were trembling rapidly. He had set Kuma down on the table, where he was sitting, watching his owner. He was holding the gun America dropped when his hand got stabbed. His breathing was still ragged, but his face no longer held fear. It had been replaced by confidence. Not as much as he may have liked, but enough to muster up the courage to bear the weapon.

"You fucking idiot," Luciano said, getting on one knee. "I'll kill y-," Luciano had been looking at his wounded arm, but he stopped making threats when he saw the wielder of the gun. He was stunned. Canada's grip on the gun wavered at the threat, but he regained his composure. He took a deep breath. He had calmed down a little bit, but he was still breathing heavily.

"D-don't move," Canada said. It wasn't loud or demanding, but it wasn't quiet either. "Stay away from him,"

America felt a swell of pride for his brother. He wasn't usually the type to tell other people what to do. He would normally be the guy who would try to make everyone happy and never intervened with arguments. That was the main reason he hasn't been at the unofficial Conferences. He usually didn't get to share his input. However, he knew that the strong side of Canada existed. He had once made America cry by listing the imperfections of him, and it left him crying for hours. Canada also had once yelled at England and France for always fighting, telling them about how it was pointless and lead to nothing. Both times he had apologized immensely and promised to never do it again. Luckily, he had broken that promise today.

Luciano stared at Canada, presumably wondering whether he should listen or not. He put his head down and grinned. Not the usual reaction America would expect after receiving a threat like that.

"Let him go, Lutz."

Lutz looked surprised but released Italy anyway. He ran to Germany and hid behind him, peeking out behind his arm. Germany looked relieved, but his attention, along with everyone else's, was directed at Canada and Luciano.

"Well, I clearly got shot by the least likely person here," Luciano said with a sigh. "That really angers me, you know."

Canada stayed silent. His confidence was slowly turning back to fear. He was looking to America for guidance, but he felt his words voice in his throat. Was it out of panic? He couldn't tell. He hadn't realized that he had slid to the floor, his back still against the wall. His hand and arm were throbbing painfully. He couldn't think straight.

An entire minute passed without speech. Eyes darted across the room as if anyone could pounce at any second. Weapons have been lowered a small bit, but the atmosphere of the room was packed with tension. Romano was slowly moving across the wall, hoping no one was paying attention to him. Kuma was looking at Canada, but America couldn't read his face. Was he worried? That bear was impossible to understand.

"Viktor" Luciano finally spoke. It took him a microsecond too much to register what that meant. Everyone else seemed to be confused in a similar manner.

Viktor understood it perfectly. Russia had turned his full attention to the situation with Luciano and Canada. He didn't see Viktor swing his shovel until he turned in time to see what he was doing. The metal connected to his face and America heard bone's crack. The sound was horrible. The nation crumpled to the floor, his water pipe falling with him.

"Russia!" China cried. Italy shrieked in terror, while the other nations seemed to be too stunned to speak, including America.

"Viktor, he better not be dead from that," Luciano said this in the same way he would ask if he had broken his lamp. A bit of annoyance, but a lot of I-don't-really-give-a-shit.

"No, he is not dead," Viktor spoke for the first time. What a great first line, confirming a person didn't die immediately after swinging a blunt object at them

Canada dropped his gun and put both of his hands up to his mouth. "Oh maple," he said in a shaky voice.

Luciano took that moment to rush up to Canada and grab one of his hands with his left hand and pulled a second knife out of his pocket. He pointed it at Canada's neck.

"Try to do that again, I. Dare. You." Luciano calmness has dissipated completely. He was breathing heavily, scowling at Canada. He only stuttered in response.

"Luciano!" Germany yelled pointing both of his guns at him. " _Hör jetzt auf!_ "

"Sorry, don't understand German," Luciano replied, though he clearly got the meaning.

"Stop this instant!" England shouted. "I will personally see to it that you..."

Whatever England said after that was lost to America. It had taken all of his concentration to get up from the wall and begin charging at Luciano. He didn't have his gun, but he was completely capable of punching people. Even though it would most likely hurt like a bitch, but he hated this guy. He ran and threw a punch.

The next thing America knew, he was on his back with the worst pain imaginable in his head. He had no idea what hit him. He also had no idea why he was still conscious. He groaned and put his hand uninjured hand up to his forehead. His glasses were gone, and a stabbing pain came at feeling his head. His hand came back sticky and covered in some liquid. He couldn't see clearly, but it wasn't nearly this bad when he didn't have his glasses. Everything was a blur.

"America!" he heard Canada yell from somewhere.

"You couldn't just knock him out?" Luciano's voice echoed around him. It was too painful to lift up his head. He lay on his side, hoping to ease the pain.

"Nah, I want him to feel every second of this" Allen said with pride.

He must've been struck by his bat. Damn, that thing hurt. Has no one in the other rooms heard this commotion yet? Why wasn't any one coming to try and stop this? Then again, there probably wasn't much they would be able to do.

"Enough!" France's voice seemed to come from a general direction this time. Infront of him, he heard him speak again. "What do you people want? There is no reason for this attack."

"What do I want?" America's vision was beginning to clear up a little bit. He could see the figure who he assumed was Luciano talking. He had moved away from Canada but still held him at knifepoint. "Isn't it obvious? I want every single one of you _dead!_ " His voice has tensed up, revealing a crazy one.

America felt an arm wrap itself around his waist. His head felt like a nuke had gone off inside it.

"Steady now," a British voice echoed around him.

"England?"

"Yes, try not to talk."

He managed to get to his feet. However, even though most of his weight was being supported by England, he could barely stand. He saw Luciano still pointing his knife at Canada, who was focused on America more than anything. The concern he saw in his brother's face told him his head wound looked bad. Luciano followed his line of sight. The view of America glaring at him while also being supported by England made him laugh.

"Oh, how precious," he said. "Friends and Family, always helping each other. Really, I never understood why they always do that."

America's vision seemed to improve a bit more. He could now easily tell who people were, but not by face. No, those details were not visible. He looked over to Russia, who hasn't moved at all. Was that supposed to be normal? One of the most powerful countries was knocked out on the floor, and he wasn't getting up. There was no way that was good.

"You seemed worried," Luciano turned back to Canada. "I can assure you, he's fine. Here, you can even see for yourself," Luciano held up his knife to Canada, threatening to cut him.

"Luciano,"

The voice was calm. At first, he thought it was Germany. The accent had him thinking he was trying to reason with him again. When he turned his head, he saw everyone looking towards the doorway. Apparently, it hadn't been Germany who had spoken. Plus, now that America thought about it, the voice was too high to be Germany's. He turned his head to the door, his head screaming in pain. There were two figures in the doorway, but America couldn't make them out.

"Oh great," Francois sounded annoyed. "At this point, I think I would Flavio. Over him, at least."

"Agreed" Luciano replied. "Why are you here?"

America still couldn't make out who it was, which pissed him off. He didn't want to be in the dark about who these people were.

Luckily, he no longer had to. Germany's voice told explained it perfectly. "Bruder?"

It was Prussia, no doubt. Why he was here though, and who was the person next to him-

America's vision cleared up almost completely at that moment. He saw that it was, in fact, Prussia, dumbstruck by what he was seeing. His eyes were rushing around the room, trying to take in what he was in front of his. His mouth was wide open.

As for the person next to him, America couldn't tell who it was. He was wearing a white robe with the hood up that covered his face. The robe had a black cross as the main design. That was all he could tell about them.

However, considering that Oliver said there was one person missing from the meeting, it was pretty easy to guess who this guy was.

"Prussia?" America squinted. Both people turned to look at him.

The second figure replied. "I go by Gilen, actually."

The man pulled back his hood. The first thing you noticed about him was the hair. It went past the shoulders and was disorderly. It was a platinum color, same as Prussia. His eyes were red, but he at least had an excuse for it, seeing as Prussia also had red. There were numerous scars on his face, one going over his right eye. If he was similarly surprised to see all of these counterparts to everyone, he didn't show it.

"Gilen," Luciano repeated. "I always thought that was a weird name. Anyway, why didn't you show up sooner?"

"Got caught up in a discussion" Gilen responded with no hesitation. He looked over to Prussia, who was currently staring at Oliver with a "Wtf" face.

"Oh, well then," Luciano turned to Gilen, putting his knife arm down in the process. Canada sighed in relief. He ran to America, who had managed to lean up on the wall without the help of England.

"Are you okay?" he asked?

"Sure, just took a bat to the head, nothing serious," America responded. He began to feel dizzy.

"Ya come to help us, Gilen?" Allen swung his bat as if he was hitting a ball. "Cause I'll let you have the one next to you and maybe even Flavio's counterpart over there, but these two are mine." He pointed at Canada and America, but neither really cared at this point.

"As much as I would like to do something with you, Allen," Prussia pulled out two swords from somewhere inside his robe. He didn't give any indication feeling excited to use them. "I'm actually hoping to get you guys out of here, preferably back to our own world."

"Ah, what?" France looked stunned. "Are you not murderous psycho like the others?"

"Not as much as they are, anyway." Gilen calmly spoke. He turned to Luciano "At least I don't kill for the fun of it,"

Viktor and Canada moved to the two Prussians, weapons ready. Prussia snapped out of his shock. He didn't have his sword on him, but he did have a pistol and a knife.

"Wait, hold on a second," Luciano hesitated. Both turned to him, questioning what he was doing.

America looked over to Luciano. He was smiling, deep in thought. He knew that look. He was unmistakably thinking of something awful. What the hell was he planning?

"Alright, new plan!" Luciano put his knife up in the air triumphantly. "Oliver?"

"Gladly!" Oliver started speaking in Latin, which America didn't know. England did, though.

"What? No, you can't teleport away from here!"

Too late, America thought. There was already magic swirling around Oliver. He wasn't an expert on real magic, but if anime has taught him anything, it's that when someone starts chanting, you run. Sadly, America was pretty sure he'd pass out if he even tried walking.

"Don't worry," Luciano said cheerfully, "We'll be meeting again soon enough. Oh, and Canada,"

Luciano rushed forward and grabbed Canada by the sweat shirt and pulled him towards him. He whispered something in his ear, and though America couldn't hear it, it certainly affected Canada. He stumbled backward just as Luciano and the other doppelgangers disappeared in a flash of blue light. He dropped to the floor, staring at the carpet and breathing heavily.

"Canada!" America bent down and instantly regretted it. The pain in his head worsened by a factor of infinity. He tried not to show it, though it didn't seem to be working.

"Dude, are you okay?" he asked?

"Uh, y-yeah..." Canada's voice was softer than usual.

"Dammit," Gilen said. He walked over to Russia, who still hasn't moved.

Everyone began making their way to America, England, and Canada. Even Romano began to walk to them. Everyone was still cautious as if their counterparts may suddenly reappear and attack them. It seemed like a logical possibility.

"Ve, are you alright?" Italy asked America and Canada.

"Yeah, I'm fine, " America said.

"Me too, thank you for asking," Canada replied.

"That head doesn't look okay" Japan knelt down and examined the injury. He got up a few seconds later. "I do believe there may be a first-aid kit somewhere in here,"

"What about Russia?" France looked over to the unconscious nation, everyone else doing the same. Gilen was standing over him, looking for any obvious wounds on his face. Even from where America was, he could see a bruise forming on Russia's face.

"He'll be fine" Gilen confirmed. "He may have fractured all of the bones on the side of his face, but otherwise okay,"

"And we're supposed to trust you?" Romano pointed at Gilen, who stood up. "You're probably just as bad as those bastards were,"

"He has a point," Germany folded his arms across his chest. "While I appreciate you not taking the side of them, we still have no real reason to trust you."

America had to agree with them, but only to an extent. This guy, Gilen, just showed up. He could've just been putting on some sort of act to throw off America.

Gilen didn't seem surprised by this comment. "I don't expect you to. I only hope I can earn it at some point in the future."

Italy seemed to be fine with this answer, but no one else seemed convinced.

China spoke next. "Prussia, where did you find this person?"

Prussia regained his normal confident posture and smiled. "I found him on my way to Austria's house. He came out of the bushes and was all like 'You need to come with me'. He told me that we needed to come here as soon as we could, so I followed him. Doesn't he look awesome? Not as awesome as me, of course, but pretty close."

Gilen looked at Prussia, obviously not agreeing with not he had just said.

"Why were you going to Austria's house?" England asked. "If it was another bloody prank,"

"No, actually," Prussia looked over to France. "Apparently, Austria had received a call from you asking if he had a counterpart. He said _nien_ and called me to see if I had one. Of course, I didn't at the time, so I decided to go over to his place, turn off all of the lights, and pretend I was his evil twin out to kill him!"

"So it was a prank,"

"Ja."

"So, Gilen," America stood up once more. Gilen was slightly taller than America, similar to Prussia. He studied America.

"What are we supposed to expect from these guys?"

Everyone looked to Gilen, who thought before answering. He saw the look in Canada's eyes, full of fear, staring into nothing. He thought he saw a hint of sympathy in Gilan's face. He looked at America with almost glowing eyes.

"Nothing good."

"Oh, how reassuring," Romano began walking away from the group. "That's it! We're dead!"

"I don't think that is a positive attitude," Japan returned with no first aid box. He looked to America. "They did not have one."

"Positive attitude?" Romano said it like it was a joke. He turned and pointed at Russia. "Tall vodka bastard got knocked out by even taller shovel bastard! I don't appreciate our odds!"

"Me neither," America said. "But we can't just sit around doing nothing. We need to talk about what we need to do."

"Right," Germany. "Everyone, back to your seats! Italy, go see if they have a first-aid box in the other rooms. Japan, keep an eye on Russia. Gilen, we would appreciate it if you were to tell us about your world. After that, England is to tell us the exact spell he used and how we can get them back, and-"

"Germany," America caught the nation's attention. He nodded towards Canada, who was still breathing heavily and shaking.

Germany sighed. "We will take a break first. Take your time to regain your senses." He looked to America and said, "Take as much time as you need."

America smiled. Germany nodded and walked away. He could be really commanding, but he was still considerate. America turned to his brother and touched his shoulder. He looked up, less fear in his eyes than before.

"Are you okay bro?" America asked again. He nodded and turned his head towards Russia. Japan was kneeling over him, examining his bruise.

"Is he going to be okay?" Canada asked.

"Yeah. Italy went to go find some first aid. Maybe something for my head. You need anything?"

Canada shook his head. "No, no I'm fine. What about you? You're the one who actually got hurt."

"Don't worry, I'm fine." America put his hand around Canada. "We're taking a break from the meeting. I don't even know if you can still call it that"

"Okay... can I talk to you after the meeting?"

America didn't know why he couldn't talk now, but he didn't want to put any more pressure or anything like that on him. "Sure, man! As soon as we're done."

"Thank you," Canada didn't say anything else after that. He and America sat on the floor for a bit.

He was hoping that whatever Luciano had said to Canada wasn't insulting. Still, at the same time, he was hoping he did it. He wanted a plausible reason to shoot him in the face. The guy was crazy. It was difficult to think of him as Italy's counterpart. Italy was literally the completely the opposite of Luciano. Yet again, he was very skilled when it came to using the knife. America has only seen Italy with a butter knife, and even that he was reluctant to use when it came to cutting food. He has seen Italy's drawing skills, though. Maybe Italy did know a thing or two about how to use a weapon.

"Doitsu!" Italy came in with at least 7 white boxes in his arms. "I found the fi-AHH-" Italy tripped and fell, dropping the boxes everywhere, each one with a red cross on it.

"Italy!" Germany yelled angrily.

" _Mi dispiace, Doitsu!_ " Italy tried to get up again but still ended up tripping on another box. Germany sighed and put a hand on his forehead.

America still could never imagine Italy with a butter knife.

* * *

 **It's fucking 3 in the morning why am I not sleeping help me fuck.**

 **I'll post it. The end of this chapter suck, I know, but I got shit to do this week and I don't wanna put this off any more than I have to.**

 **Have a nice day. Sorry for waking anyone up.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Does anyone understand how Japanese honorifics? I think I got them right, but I'm not sure. If someone could clear me up on what to use what for, I would be extremely grateful. I'll change if needed when I get it. Also, I understand if they get annoying to a point because it certainly was writing this. I decided to use them most of the time, though I won't if it doesn't seem right.**

 **Anyway, it's been forever, hasn't it? I got stuck, had to rewrite a huge part of it, the usual. Especially when you get worried about making a person say something that people find OOC. I ended up changing the plot of this chapter a good bit, too. Nothing I'm discarding the idea of entirely, just throwing it somewhere in the next chapter or two. Forgive me, also, if this chapter looks a bit rushed, because it kinda was at the end.**

 **A lot of people seem to be enjoying this. I deeply appreciate all of the reviews people have left. Seriously, it means a lot. A good motivation tool, as well. Thank you for being patient with this. Also, as I am sure most of you know, classes will be starting in the next couple of weeks. From when I am writing this, at least. Don't worry, though. If anything, it will get me to be more active in working to get these chapters out.**

* * *

 _Germany's POV_

Against Germany's preference, the nations took a half hour break in order to process what has happened that morning. He would've begun the discussion right away hadn't America request a recess, which the other countries found to be a good idea. They talked amongst themselves while various situations were being attended to, including sharing one another's experiences they had encountered their counterpart. As it turned out, most of the counterparts had been as confused as they were. This did not include England's doppelganger, Oliver, seeing as he was the one who knew about the spell. Germany had been having a conversation with Japan when Gilen, Prussia's doppelganger, came by saying that the meeting was ready to commence.

America and Russia were the only ones who have gotten injured during the incident, and Germany was glad the number was no higher than that. America was currently being tended to with his head and hand injury. It had taken a lot of effort, but Italy managed to get the bandages wrapped correctly. His head bandage was very improvised, so it looked absurd with a combination of white cloth, a few band-aids, and gauze. The possibility of a concussion was denied by America, declaring he was "Only a little dizzy". He was disappointed when he saw his glasses have been completely destroyed, but England reassured him that he could just get new ones later.

Russia had yet to awake. His counterpart, Viktor, had hit his head with a shovel after an order from Italy's counterpart, Luciano. Germany had no doubt he could've killed him with only a little more effort if he wanted to. He was breathing normally, and his pulse was fine, according to Japan. He didn't seem that concerned, but everyone else had different opinions. Italy had balanced an ice pack on the side of his face with the bruising in hopes of reducing any swelling. The bruise went all the way from the bottom of his cheek to his temple. It was a nasty blue and brown. Other than that, he didn't show any signs of having some other issue.

Everyone was now sitting at the table. Germany counted off to make sure no one disappeared. He had completely forgotten about Italy before he had arrived with his brother, Romano, and an angry doppelganger on their tail. He felt terrible for not remembering about Italy. This time, he devised a mental list of everyone that was supposed to be there. Satisfied that everyone was accounted for, he spoke.

"This meeting is now in session," Germany scanned each face that sat at the table. He had their undivided attention. "France, I'm assuming you were able to successfully call the other nations?"

Germany had given jobs out to whoever he felt was sitting around doing nothing. He had asked France to call up the nations who were not attending the meeting. He had apparently already called Austria, so he didn't need to be contacted a second time. He called the Nordics, the Baltics, and pretty much any other country that was not present. He even asked him to contact Sealand, even though he ended up being with Sweden for the time being. He had requested France to tell them about their current situation and to be on high alert.

"Of course!" France smiled. "Good news, as well. None of the other countries seemed to have any issues with look-alikes of themselves. Hopefully, this means that Oliver was correct?" He turned to England, who was scanning the pages of his spellbook.

"Yes, he was," England put the book on the table and shifted a bit. Germany had asked him to go over the spell he used carefully. "The spell mentions that each spark was a soul transferring worlds. I didn't get a chance to count, but Oliver seemed confident in his number. In other words, it was only those counterparts who traveled. Plus Gilen."

Germany did not know what to think of Gilen. He had said he wanted to help them, but he couldn't tell if he was lying. If there was anything for Germany to read off of his face, it was seriousness. Highly contrasted by his brother's constant expression of mischief. He also didn't restate the fact that he was "awesome" every five seconds, which Germany was very thankful for.

Prussia had given him the details of what went down at some point during the meeting. While Prussia was walking, Gilen had appeared apparently "out of nowhere", as Prussia put it, and held him at sword point until he was convinced he was not a threat. He then told Prussia about how there may be other, more merciless nations in this world willing to kill, which Prussia didn't entirely believe up until arriving here. Prussia then told him about the meeting that had been taking place that day. After he told Gilen where it was taking place (and a lot begging to let him come), they took off.

"He has an awesome cloak," Prussia had mentioned. "I think I had one like that."

Germany decided that he does not know Gilen well enough to draw conclusions. As of the moment, Germany chose to keep an eye on him.

"They seem so sadistic," China crossed his arms and shook his head slightly. "None of them seemed to hesitate to turn to violence."

"Don't be surprised," Gilen said back. "From what I witnessed, what you experienced was how they act on a day-to-day basis."

"None of us wouldn't do something terrible like that," Italy's voice was somewhat shaky, but he otherwise seemed calm. "Does that mean the world you come from is the evil version of ourselves?"

"In simple terms, I suppose you could say that," Gilen answered. "But I think it's more complex than that. From what I've seen from you all, personalities seem to be the main difference."

"How so?" Germany questioned. Even though he asked, he knew exactly what he meant. His own counterpart, Lutz, seemed to be different from him. He wasn't as authoritative and didn't offer any input during the meeting beforehand.

"Well, for starters," He turned his attention to Prussia, who had been arguing with France in hushed tones. The sudden silence caused them both to look up. Germany gave Prussia a glare, and immediately stopped and returned his attention to the discussion. France followed suit.

Gilen continued. "My counterpart seems to have a large amount of self-confidence. Egotistical, if you prefer the term,"

"It's not egotistical if it's the truth!" Prussia shot back.

"I think I get it," France smiled as if he had thought of something amusing. "So, if this pattern continues for the rest of our counterparts, that must mean Angleterre's counterpart is a phenomenal cook, no?"

"That wanker poisoned my tea with arsenic, you twit!" England yelled at France.

"Oh, you both share a fondness for poisoned food?"

"Why you..." England's face was turning red. He looked ready to strangle him. Even when evil opposites were running around, these two still found the time to fight.

America changed the subject before it got physical. "Okay, then that also means the most innocent person here would be the most sinister, right?"

All eyes turned to Italy, who had been eating a bowl of pasta. Way back when Germany would've actually questioned how he got it. Now, he knew better than to ask. He never did get a real answer and never will. Italy saw all of the attention turn to him, then looked down at his shirt as if he had gotten sauce on it.

"Well, it makes sense," Canada noted.

"Your counterpart isn't so good himself," Gilen's focus then turned to Kuma, who had been sitting on the table and looking down. "Now that I think about, someone told me that Matt may have beaten a bear into submission before. I don't believe they are true, but the parallel is definitely something to take notice of."

"You mean Kuma?" America turned to the bear, who Canada had placed on his lap, chin resting on his head.

If Gilen was surprised by Kuma's name, he didn't show it. "That's what he is called? That's what Matt said he had named his bear."

"We are getting off-topic," Germany interrupted. "Now that we have an idea on how these people act, I think we should focus on how we are to find them. Any ideas?"

"Magic may be able to help us find a general location" England offered. "Assuming they are using magic as well to conceal where they are, I can only find a vague area, however."

"How vague are we talking?" America asked. "Like, by the county? City, maybe?"

"More like by the continent,"

"That would take to long," Germany said. He took a few seconds to think. "What if you got Norway to help you? Would it be easier?"

Germany wasn't a huge fan of asking the Nordics for help. Asides from Finland, he found it hard to cooperate with them. While their personalities all differed pretty significantly, Germany was never sure how to act around them. He didn't hate them, he just was okay with not talking to them. In this case, though, they didn't seem to have much of a choice.

England thought about it before answering. "Maybe, but it would only narrow down to a few select nations. Maybe a general area for larger regions."

"That should be enough," China said cheerfully. "We should have little trouble with finding them now."

"I don't want to find them in my country, those bastards," Romano crossed his arms. "One was enough, I don't need a parade of them in the streets."

"Neither do I, as do the rest of us," France said with a grim tone. "But saying that won't prevent it from happening. They could be spread out all over the world or condensed in one of our countries. As much as I hate to say it, I believe they are all stationed in one area. I think that no one should be alone during our time dealing with this situation. We should have someone stay with a friend or something while waiting for this problem to be resolved. Like a buddy system."

"Da, I agree,"

Everyone turned their attention to the origin of the voice. They were quite astounded by the fact that the owner had managed to make his way to the table they were discussing at without one of them noticing. He was grinning as he had agreed to France's statement.

"Ve, Russia is okay!" Italy squealed.

People began getting out of their seats to confront the nation. He was holding the ice pack Italy had given him to his cheek, where the bruising was. He didn't seem to be in any pain, but you never knew with Russia. Germany now noticed that when he had spoken, his speech had been somewhat slurred. Germany didn't know what that could mean, but he assumed it was nothing serious.

"Russia-san, it is a relief to see that you are well," Japan nodded his head to Russia.

"Yeah dude," America grinned at the nation. "Glad to see you're alright."

"Your 'alright' is different from mine," Gilen walked up to Russa and looked up at him. "What part of your head is in pain right now?"

"Everywhere on this side," Russia continued smiling as he used his free hand to lightly pat the ice pack pressed up against his face.

"Can you bring your teeth together completely?" Gilen asked.

"Uh, no,"

"What about your vision?"

"Mmm, A bit hazy, actually,"

"Since when were you the medical expert?" Romano eyed Gilen suspiciously. Germany had been wondering the same thing. Prussia barely knew how to open a package of band-aids. Even if the fact that their personalities differed applied in this situation, Germany doubted that he wouldn't know how to do much more.

"You learn a lot on the battlefield," is all Gilen said in response to that question. He then put his hand on side of Russia's unaffected face and tilted his head down so he could see clearly. "Lift up your tongue, I need to see if there is any bruising beneath it."

Germany was confused as to how bruising under the tongue could tell a person anything. He was certain it did, though. Germany was pretty sure no one would tell Russia to do something as trivial as that. He seemed puzzled by the request but did as he was told anyway. Gilen stared for a few seconds, then took his hand away. He muttered something under his breath, and Germany could've sworn he said something along the lines of "Smells like alcohol,"

"Viktor's attack gave you a broken jaw, and maybe a cheekbone to match it," Gilen reported. "Nothing a few days without chewing can't fix."

"That's okay. You don't have to chew to drink vodka!" Russia looked happy at the realization that fact.

"Russia, do you remember what happened before you passed out?" China asked.

Russia looked up to the ceiling while thinking. "Hm, the last thing I recall was the crazed Italian person getting shot in the hand by someone. I think it was America, no?"

"Nah man," America turned to his brother and patted him on the back. "That was all Canada. I would be dead if it wasn't for him!"

"Oh, good job!" Russia beamed at Canada, which caused him to flinch a little bit, but he thanked him for the compliment afterward.

"Now, tell me," Russia turned to Gilen. His smile turned a bit unsettling. "Do I get to punch you or are you friendly?"

As China rapidly began explaining what he had missed while he was out, Germany felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned to see Japan, looking as if he wanted to ask something.

"Hm," Germany turned to him. "What is it, Japan?"

"I would like your opinion on a thought that I had," he responded. "I feel as if now is not the correct moment to share it openly." Germany didn't know what he could be thinking about, but he nodded for him to continue.

"Well, I was thinking," Japan was looking for the right words. "If every nation has a counterpart in the other world, then that would mean Norway-san has one too, no?"

Germany didn't see what Japan was going at. "Of course, but Japan, Oliver said that it was only 10 people who went through the portal."

"That is not my point," Japan assured. "My point is that if the Norway-san where they come from can use magic, then they will know the one of this world can use magic as well,"

"I don't know what you are getting at, Japan"

"Well, what of our counterparts try to use his magic to boost their own?"

Germany had to admit, he hadn't thought about that. It made some sense, too. Despite that, there were some holes in his theory.

"I get what you mean, but did England not say that you can't force someone to use magic? They would not be able to make Norway use his power for their own benefit."

"Yes, but he and England-san use a pure form of magic," Japan said. "I do not use magic, but I know enough about it. I'm assuming that our counterparts use a darker form of magic in order to achieve more for the price of something like blood and sacrifices. With that type of magic, one could forcefully use the magic of another being."

"So is it like Star Wars?" Italy asked, who had been standing behind Germany. He jumped at his sudden appearance but quickly regained his composure.

"Whatever makes you happy, Italy," Germany said with a sigh. He was sure Italy had never watched Star Wars, anyway.

Japan looked like he was about to say something when Gilen's voice interrupted them. "Yes, yes. Now I believe we should get back to what we were originally discussing."

"Yes, of course," France resumed what he had been previously talking about. "As I said, I believe we should all be staying with another country for now. I think someone should stay with both Italy and Romano, seeing as the two of them can't take on Luciano in case he shows up again,"

"Ve, Germany!" Italy clung to his arm. "He can stay in our country for a while!"

Romano objected right away. "Never! I don't want that potato bastard in our country!"

Italy then looked to Japan right before clinging to his arm. "Japan! He can stay in our country for a while!"

Romano looked ready to object again but then had second thoughts as if he was realizing he didn't prefer any of the nations in this room to be in his country. He sighed and said. "Fine, I'm not happy about it though,"

"That is enough for me," Japan replied with a nod. Germany thought he saw a bit of a smile, too. Romano instantly began whispering in an angry manner to Italy, who replied with a more gentle undertone. Leave it to Romano to start a fight with literally anyone.

"I can stay with China, then." England looked over to him as if making a silent agreement to try not to disrespect each other's cultures. "We've been on good terms lately. Besides, I haven't been there in a while either."

"I'll stay with my bro," America put an arm around Canada. He had seemed a bit tense before, but he seemed fine with the idea of staying with his brother. "We can make bacon covered pancakes and cover it in hot sauce and maple syrup. What do ya say, Canada?"

"Uh, sure..." Canada didn't seem as excited as America was.

"I can stay with my counterpart for now," Gilen said. "I'm interested as to what this version of the country Prussia is like."

Gilen obviously hadn't meant any harm, but that didn't keep everyone from being surprised. The room was quiet. The little argument between Romano and Italy stopped. Prussia seemed to be the most taken aback. Gilen looked around, perplexed as to what was happening.

Prussia broke the silence with a not-very-convincing imitation of his phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket eagerly. "Someone is calling the awesome Prussia! I must take this. I'll be outside if anyone needs me." Prussia took that moment to run outside the Conference room and down the hallway, most likely exiting the building. The room was quiet once more.

"Am... I missing something?" Gilen asked. He obviously had no idea what was going on.

"Well, you see..." China began. His voice broke off mid-sentence.

"Prussia is no longer a country" Germany finished for him.

Gilen was speechless. He really did have no idea about it.

"Are you still a country where you're from?" America asked

"Well, yeah," Gilen replied as if it were obvious. He turned to Germany with what seemed to mean to be an apologetic look, but it turned out looking astonished more than anything. "I had no idea-"

"It's fine," Germany cut him off. "You didn't know. You can stay with my Bruder in my house."

"In that case, I guess Russia can stay with his sisters?" England suggested, but even then he was reluctant to say it.

"I'm sure big sister Ukraine will not mind," said Russia.

"Then it seems that I am stuck with you," Germany sighed and turned to France.

"I thought we had no major conflicts," France reminded him. He was right, no significant fights have happened between the two in a while. Germany nodded, though not happy about it.

"Fine," Germany sighed. Everyone who had been in the room now had a roommate. Great. He was positive that almost everyone was going to hate it the first day, but what more can you do? This was for safety purposes, Germany reminded himself. Nothing permanent.

"Japan, go find my Bruder before he does some stupid trick," Germany ordered Japan. "Make sure he isn't throwing water balloons at business groups or something." Japan nodded and walked out of the room.

"Where would he get water balloons?" England raised an eyebrow.

"If you knew him as long as I had, you wouldn't ask that question," Germany said back.

"Anyway, so now that's taken care of," America said. "I got an important question. About Allen, actually."

"Hmm?" Gilen looked to America. "What is it?"

"Why the hell is he insistent on nicknaming me?" Germany stared at America with a look of mild annoyance, but he continued. "Like seriously, he calls me "Porkchop", but he acts the same as me when it comes to things like that, right? Neither of us looks even a _little_ porky. He said he saw my breakfast and just decided that would be the perfect name for me."

China slapped his hand on his forehead. "Did you not hear the conversation we just had?"

"Well," Gilen didn't seem to mind. "It's probably because he despises anyone who eats meat. He's been a vegetarian as long as I've known him."

"Uh, what?" America's face showed a mix of disbelief and fear. He probably would've gone on a rant on how that was BS if Germany hadn't changed the topic. He hadn't dropped his expression at America's question until he spoke again.

"England, how long will it take to pinpoint where our counterparts are?" Germany looked to England, who had been scanning his spellbook for the millionth time that day.

"Considering I start tonight," England paused for a moment, running mental calculations through his head. "I could give you a country name by tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. It will take some time to break the spells Oliver would have put up and more so to actually track where they are."

That meant they had the rest of the day to plan what to do. Germany had been hoping they could do battle strategies, but that wouldn't happen if America proceeded to ask dumb questions. Germany had only seen his own counterpart fight, along with Luciano and a little bit of Allen. He would rather know who would be best against who, because Italy obviously couldn't go up facing Luciano, even with Romano. Under the circumstances that the rest of the counterparts had similar combat skills to Luciano, they were most likely going to have some issues getting rid of them. However, Germany doubted that they could be as quick and agile as Luciano, seeing how he was not only Italian but Italy's counterpart. It wasn't surprising for him to be as quick as he was.

In that case, Germany assumed that these counterparts had about the same fighting abilities as he and the others do. Possibly more so due to their destructive behavior. Germany had been easily able to subdue his counterpart, and the others seemed to be able to have some control over their's for some period of time. Of course, that was before they completely understood the situation. Now that everyone got what was happening, they were for sure not going to listen to them. The best course of action to take would be to fight them and hopefully win. How they were going to do that Germany was expecting to cover before the day ended.

Maybe they could get the other nations to help? Countries like Switzerland and Hungary would be more than happy to lend a hand. The Nordics had a lot of experience, as well. Outnumbering them may scare them into going back, but they didn't look like the type to back down from a battle. Plus, Germany wasn't entirely sure if it was possible to open up the portal again and bring more countries through. In that scenario, things would get dicey.

"Germany, did you hear the question?" England's voice broke through Germany's thoughts. His attention snapped back to reality.

" _Nien_ ," Germany looked to England. "Apologies. What is it?"

"Gilen was wondering if you saw anything else suspicious besides Lutz,"

"I cannot say I did," Germany was sure that the only thing out of place that morning before he arrived at the Conference was Lutz. As far as he could remember, nothing else had happened.

"Then I'm guessing we can conclude there is nothing else that came through the portal?" China had gone away from the group standing at the end of the table and sat in his original seat facing them.

"Precisely," England confirmed. He then hesitated. "Actually, I take that back. There is no real way that we can be certain, but seeing as no one saw anything conspicuous, it's safe to say that they don't seem to be interested in us at the moment."

"I thought you said Oliver counted only ten people go through the portal," Germany said.

"I did," England took out his spell book and opened it up to the page of the spell. "Although, those only count human souls. Or nation souls, they don't really differ. Any animal soul or inanimate object, however, can pass through completely undetected. With this, we weren't sure if any other sinister things had come through."

"Things such as?" Russia turned to Gilen.

"I don't believe animals differ much from the ones here," Gilen said. Germany noticed Gilen had been fiddling with the cross on his neck, the way Prussia did sometimes when he was thinking. Another common trait, it seems. "It's just that I found it out of character for Oliver to not have his spellbook. He wouldn't lose something as valuable as that while going through the portal. My assumption is that it is still here, just that it came through separately from Oliver. In that case, any other dangerous object could have come through along with it."

"I'm afraid to ask what that may include," Canada said nervously.

"It could include a lot of things. I know Allen had a rifle at some point, and Luciano may have gotten a new stiletto since I threw his out into a lake,"

"What the hell is a stiletto?" America looked lost.

"Oh, _meraviglioso,_ " Romano rolled his eyes. "No one would use something like that anymore unless they really know how to use them."

"You sound familiar with this blade." China noticed. "Can you elaborate?"

Italy suddenly got an eager look on his face as he began to explain. "It's an Italian knife that was created during the 16th century-"

"15th" Romano corrected in a monotone voice.

"During the 15th century. It was a very slim weapon, so a lot of assistants-"

"Assasins"

"Assasins used them because they were soundless and easily concealed."

"So this man is most likely very skilled with this blade?" France looked at his own rapier and studied it as if he were comparing it to what Italy had just described.

"I can confirm that he _is_ very skilled with it," Gilen said. "I've gotten into more than my fair share of fights with him. Even with dual swords, I can never land a hit on him when he gets into it."

"Well, that's a good thing to keep in mind," America said through a full mouth. It took Germany a moment to realize it was cheesy puffs that he had pulled out of his jacket pocket at some point. No one had noticed it until he spoke. Even England had been too focused on the discussion to be bothered looking over every few seconds to make sure he wasn't doing anything bad. "Now we have an idea on how dangerous these dudes can be."

"As if we hadn't already," England said with a calm expression. It quickly turned to anger as he addressed the bag of junk food. "And there is still no eating food in the Meeting room, you blockhead!" He grabbed the bag and threw it in the opposite direction.

"Hey, what gives?!" America threw his hands out to his sides. He flinched a bit with the sudden motion of his wounded hand.

"Both of you, stop," Germany said. "We have enough problems as it is. We don't need you two bickering about something as trifling as food. Refrain from fighting until the day is over, at least."

America pointed to England. "He started it!" England was luckily mature enough to just sigh and shake his head.

Germany was getting tired of this. At this point, he would've been long gone knowing that the nations were never going to fully cooperate. They never had and never will, it was always like that. Sure, there were a few nations who got along most of the time, but having a civil discussion with even a fraction of the total countries in the world was unheard of. Let alone all the nations together as a planet. When it came down to the literal fate of the world, the nations still quarreled about whatever they felt necessary instead of figuring out what to do for the people. For _their_ people. For the entire world.

Despite this, they were still here today. The situation was done and dealt with. Though in questionable ways, they didn't argue to fight alongside each other when it came down to it. Everyone had been supporting each other's backs and fought for the sake of what they loved, their planet. They did save it, in the end. If they had battled unitedly once, they could do it again.

"Alright," Germany knew that the nations were capable of such teamwork. Though he had trouble seeing it at times, it was there without a doubt. "I believe that it is time to advance our conversation. I for one would like to know exactly how we are to fight. We can't just assume a few punches will beat them. This will most likely be our toughest difficulty yet. We have to have a plan in order to do this."

"He's right," Gilen looked up at the group of countries. They had formed a hasty circle so they could all be part of the Conference. "I do believe that is the best way to go about it. I hope that you all had the same train of thought as I did when it comes to ideas. If we could get outside help from the other countries of this world, it would help us a great deal,"

The group nodded in agreement, even Romano gave a shrug.

"France," America said. "Did the others seem willing to help when you called them?"

" _Oui_ , in fact," France answered. "The Nordics actually offered to help. They said they would be available whenever."

"They all agreed to help without a second thought?" China questioned. "You would think they are busy people,"

"Of course," France reassured. "Finland said they would be happy to assist us."

Germany highly doubted Finland got a chance to ask for their opinions. France seemed convinced, though. With that, maybe they were fine with it.

"Right," England flipped through his spellbook some more before landing on a page that, while inscribed in latin, seemed to be talking about sharing power. "Well, you should get to call them again at some point in the near future. I need to see if Norway is okay with helping me out on this. Also, I would imagine Japan should be back with Prussia at this point. Do you think something happened?"

He had asked everyone, but the question was directed at Germany. "Look's like Japan couldn't talk Prussia out of the stupid thing I'm sure he has done or is about to do. I'll be right back." With that, Germany walked out of the room and into the hallway.

It was quite dark, despite it being morning. The curtains had been drawn closed, leaving only the fluorescent lights of the Conference room and the hallway to light it. Most of the rooms in the hallway were open and empty. There were a set of closed doors that lead to an occupied room, but there was no point in going in and informing them of the situation that had been happening as they discussed something like the economy. If they hadn't heard it, or they didn't care, he wouldn't do any good in notifying them on a subject irrelevant to their discussion.

He made his way to the outside of the building. It was on the edge of the city area, right beside a wooded area. A few men and women were walking around. Some were in formal attire that had been stepping in and out of the building. The other side of the building, Germany noticed. There must've been some big presentation there. Most people out and about on the street were in more casual wear, walking in and out of the few shops that surrounded the business building. One woman with a stroller was making her way on one of the trails in the wooded area.

Prussia and Japan were not in sight, though Germany suspected they couldn't have gone far. He made a loop around the building with little success. They wouldn't have gone into the city, so he wasn't going there. Then the thought occurred to Germany that Prussia could have had the idea of going off into the forest and attempt to "scare the ever-living shit out of people walking by", as he put it. He did that more than he should. With a sigh, he began walking.

It was a nice place, seeing as it wasn't a very busy trail. Fewer people meant less trash strewn about. While visiting his country, Japan had gone to this area hours at a time. He said it was a great meditating spot. Germany didn't meditate, so he wouldn't know, but he took Japan's word for it. As early summer would have it, the trees were packed with leaves that were translucent to the sun. Bits of light spilled out onto the dirt path littered with rocks.

It didn't take long before Germany heard a snickering coming from one of the sides of the path. It was distant, but Germany was sure he had lived with his brother long enough to recognize his laugh. Germany made his way off the path and towards the direction of the noise.

He had only walked a few meters when he saw a small yellow bird jump up from a shrub, fluttering down soon after. It was followed by an uncertain voice.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Prussia-san?"

"You worry too much, Japan. Watch, this is going to be hilarious!"

Prussia and Japan had been hiding behind a bush, Prussia with a remote in his hand. The yellow bird was perching on his head, as it always was. In front of them was a gray tabby cat inspecting something on the ground in front of it. The cat may have been a stray, or just wandered from its owner. It was pawing at the object curiously.

Prussia pressed a button on his controller. The cat suddenly jumped with a screech and ran off into the woods. What Prussia had been controlling was a sprinkler system. He must've set it up in his spare time. Prussia broke out laughing as the cat bolted away. Japan even allowed a smile.

"Did you see that, Japan?" Prussia asked through his laughter. "It went a least 2 meters!"

"That was cute," Japan admitted. "It jumped quite far up."

"What are you two doing?" Neither of them had noticed Germany walking up behind them. Both went rigid at the sound of his voice. No one said anything for a few seconds. Even the bird was silent.

The two of them turned to him at the same time and began talking all at once.

" _Shazai,_ Germany-san" Japan was on his knees with his head hanging low. "I found Prussia-san here and he said that he would come back after he showed me this. He pulled me against my will with the power of cuteness!"

"West! Hey! Uh..." Prussia struggled to come up with a good excuse. "We were just heading back, and Japan thought we should stop here for a second. And I didn't do that," Prussia proceeded to throw the remote away from him as hard as he could.

Germany didn't say anything at first when they finished. All he did was turn and begin walking the opposite direction back towards the path. They took it as a sign to follow him.

"Germany-san, did we miss anything important while we were gone?" Japan asked when he and Prussia caught up to him. Germany gave them a brief summary on what the others had been talking about when they were gone. Prussia seemed to be very intrigued by the blade Italy had been talking about, the stiletto.

"I remember Italy showing me that a while ago. It looked awesome!"

"Well you may end up seeing it again," Germany replied. "I reckon Luciano would be more than willing let you examine it before he stabs you."

"I do not think he will be that kind," Japan said.

"Anyway," Prussia took out his phone and began texting. "I'm gonna see what Spain thinks of all of this. I wonder what his counterpart is like." He didn't seem to care that France had already called him, but Germany didn't stop him.

"Germany-san," Japan looked up to Germany. "Was the meeting near a conclusion when you left?"

"No, not at all," Germany answered. "We still have to talk about how we are to fight our counterparts when we locate them."

"Still?" Prussia looked moderately irritated. He spoke without looking up from his phone. "You would think we would have that clear with Gilen to ask." Prussia's tone changed in the slightest manner when mentioning Gilen. Germany could tell that he hadn't forgotten what Gilen had said before he ran off. He didn't bring it up since he didn't seem in the mood to talk about it.

"I'm sure they are addressing the topic as we speak," Germany reassured.

"That's a relief," Japan said. "I was hoping that we would be able to figure out what to do with Luciano-kun. He is very dangerous from what I had seen."

They have made their way out of the forest with the meeting building in sight. The street was empty, leaving only the gust of wind carrying bits of trash to break the brief silence the trio had. Prussia eventually broke it by the time they stepped into the building.

"I still think Ita can take him on himself," Prussia commented. "He's a powerful fighter, and I bet he's a lot quicker, too!"

"I thought someone told you about what he had done before he got here," Japan said to Prussia. "Didn't you see the condition America-san was in when you arrived?"

"Oh Ja, I saw," Prussia said. "In fact, America told me himself while we were waiting for the meeting to start. I just hold the fact that Ita's stronger than he lets on. West should know better than anyone, seeing as he trains you and Ita all the time. You agree, right West?"

Prussia wasn't wrong. Italy has been working hard, or whatever passed as working hard for him. He has improved immensely over the time that he has known him, though he still didn't seem to match the skill level that Luciano had demonstrated. Plus, Italy never had the intention to hurt someone. This was highly opposed to Luciano's need for blood. As Gilen had said before, personalities differed to an extent when it came to these counterparts. Italy, the cowardly innocent he was, had a deadly psychopath for a doppelganger.

Germany explained his thoughts to Japan and Prussia.

Japan nodded. "I think you are right, Germany-san, and returning to what I was saying, someone besides Italy-kun is going to have to try and subdue him."

"If you think it's that hard, just let the awesome me do it!" Prussia's voice rose to a gleeful shout. "I can handle him!"

They arrived at the door to the Conference room. Japan pushed them open. The nations had moved from standing to sitting back down at the table. They hadn't noticed the three, as they were deep in conversation.

Prussia didn't like not being noticed. He stepped in front of Germany and Japan and yelled. "The awesome me has returned! What did we miss?"

The other nations looked up, some with a hint of relief in their faces. With all that has been going on, the tension was pretty high. Germany himself wouldn't have been surprised if another nation's counterpart had popped out of nowhere and attacked them. He was almost surprised they didn't.

"Nothing much, really," America was sitting in Germany's usual spot, indicating he was trying to be the leader of the conversation. "We just found out that these guys are good at fighting."

"Oh, really? I didn't notice when we were just about to start a war with them," England said with heavy sarcasm. "We already _know_ that, you dimwit! Every time we try to discuss a single person's skills, you drive off-topic with some idiotic comment that relates to nothing in particular!"

"They weren't idiotic," America replied back. "I was providing helpful input!"

"Explain how, then."

"Stop this nonsense!" China ordered. "You fight like young children over the last pieces of sweets. You can fight all you want as soon as I am out of here when I can't hear you and can't get a headache."

That shut them up. Satisfied, China turned to Germany, who had sat himself down at the table, Japan and Prussia doing the same. "Now that you are back, I think we should talk about combat methods."

"But we were talking about that!" America claimed.

"No, we were not," Canada argued.

"At any rate," England said, ignoring the two. "Gilen stated that the skills of our counterparts seem to match ours. As we all saw, countries like France and Japan had very similar weapons, and both Xiao and China are skilled in hand to hand combat."

"So I have seen," Japan pulled his sword out of its sheath and examined it. "When I first encountered my counterpart, he seemed to panic and attacked me. He presented great talent with his weapon. After the initial shock, he calmed down and introduced himself. He acted in a polite manner, but I now see it was not genuine."

"My own counterpart was sleeping on my balcony when I woke up this morning." France followed up. "I never thought about the possibility of him having a weapon."

"What about yours, Germany?" Russia asked. "Surely your counterpart would've been organized enough to form a planned attack on you,"

"Quite the opposite, actually," Germany recalled how Lutz had attacked him. "However, I do not doubt his ability to be a threat. He seemed as confused as I was at the time, faltering his ability to fight properly."

"Speaking of," England spoke. "Italy, you said you met your counterpart, Luciano, in an alleyway?"

"And almost got himself killed!" Romano, who was sitting next to Italy, whacked him on the back of the head. " _I_ _diota_! Under what context did that seem like a good idea?"

" _Mi dispiace, fratello!_ " Italy cried.

"That is not my point," England continued. "Though I do agree that what Italy did was not the wisest choice. What I am trying to get at is that, unlike the other counterparts, Luciano was not in your house, though he without a doubt started there. He wasn't in any state of bewilderment at all. Quite similar to Oliver, who greeted me with no sense of surprise whatsoever. Do you think it is possible that the two of them plotted to come here and attack us?"

China responded immediately. "I was thinking the same thing. Luciano seemed to have taken control of the situation when he entered. He must've only told Oliver about it."

"But this isn't some action movie!" America argued. "Why would they want to attack us?"

Japan turned to America. "Remember what Gilen told us about our copies? They are very destructive. It is plausible that they may want to do it in order to get control of this world for some reason."

"That or they're doing it just for the fun of it," said Prussia.

"Yeah, but-"

"America, does it really matter at this point?" England inquired. "They're here, and the only way to get them back to where they came from is to fight them. Trying to reason with them is out of the question. You, of all people, should be the most excited by this."

"I never said I wasn't excited," America pointed out. "If anything, I'm actually thrilled to get into a good battle again. I just think that this seems too...I don't know...cliche, maybe? I would expect this in a movie, but in real life-"

"You're not actually disappointed, are you?" England wondered. "This should be your dream come true."

"I just said I was looking forward to the fight, Ya know. I'm only saying you wouldn't expect things you would find in a movie to happen in real life. Even I know that, and I manage to relate anything to some movie if I want to."

England raised an eyebrow. "Reasoning? From America? There's something you don't see every day. If it makes you feel better, I agree with you. However, there's not much we can do about it now that it had already happened. Don't think about it too much, you don't need to give yourself a headache."

"Fine," America sighed. "Anyway, what were we talking about?"

"Before we conclude for the day," Germany said. "I want to touch upon one more thing. We should consider who will fight who and how. If we can, I would like to have an organized strategy in order to ensure the least amount of difficulty will come from this."

America swiftly raised his uninjured hand. "I call Allen and Luciano!" He yelled.

"No fair, I called Luciano first!" Prussia complained. "I can't even fight my own, and I wanted to fight! Why should you get two?"

"Well, I need to prove my heroism in this! Since we already established the fact about this being like a movie, it's only fit the protagonist fights the most people."

"When did anyone say this was a movie?" England asked.

" _Pour l'amour de Dieu_ " France put his hand on his forehead. "I think for now we should concentrate on locating them before we try to predict the outcome of a battle. Do you not agree, Angleterre?"

England nodded. "Fine. For now, let's assume that we are best fighting our own opposites. If you want, ask Gilen if you want to know something, otherwise, I may be able to find some information while searching for our counterparts. I can assume Gilen is the best match for someone like Luciano. Besides that, everyone else here is capable of fighting, and I'm sure you can handle them on your own."

"That was solved rather quickly," Japan observed. "I was expecting you to go a bit more in depth, England-san."

"I would," England replied. "Only thing that holds me back is wanting to end this meeting as soon as possible, therefore end this entire chapter of our lives as soon as possible."

"In that case," Germany stood from his seat. "I believe this meeting has reached its conclusion. If anyone sees anything out of the ordinary, contact either England or myself. Stick with someone at all times, and don't try to do anything stupid." Germany said, looking at America at the last part.

"I will be taking my leave in a few minutes. As of now, you are free to go when you please. _Viel Glück"_

With that, Germany left the table, leaving the other nations to argue about whatever had popped into their mind at that moment.


End file.
